Ted’s new PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) camera rocks! It can zoom in to get a picture like you see, or it can zoom wide to show him in action in the summer. Now we can see him in his den.
Ted in his den This 33-second video is an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5fGBzYmrk . Today, I watched him for 303 seconds until the phone rang. Most of the time, I could see every hair. I counted 11 breaths in the 303 seconds, which is a breath every 27 seconds—or 2.18 breaths per minute. I was surprised at the low number of breaths. I would have thought that a bear as heavy as Ted would have energy to burn and wouldn’t have to slow down his metabolism that much. I would have expected 3 or 4 breaths per minute. It shows how much we have to learn and how good it is to have a video camera that lets us watch him with no one around.
Some of you know Donna’s and my friend Judy McClure who has been a dedicated part of the Bear Center staff since 2008. Unfortunately, her cancer has returned. Many people love her and want to follow her progress. For those who want to do that and pray for her, she will be updating her progress frequently on caringbridge.org at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/judymcclure88/journal. This is not about donations. There is no way to donate to Judy through caring bridge. It’s just a place to follow her progress. Curiously, there are two Judy McClure’s on caring bridge. Our Judy is the one with the picture and the name JudyMcClure88. She selected that number because that’s the number of keys on the piano. In addition to her work at the Bear Center, she is the pianist at our church. At the Bear Center, she is the one I have worked with most over the years because she works directly with me on the exhibits.
A Lily Fan asked what date mash is. We are doing some research and we will have more info tomorrow. All I know is that a year or two ago a friend was able to get some outdated blocks of it, each block weighing about 65 pounds. I think it is used in commercial cooking. Even though our blocks were marked “Not for human consumption,” we take a bite sometimes, and it is good. The deer like it, but not as much as corn. Ms Marten likes it, but not as much as she likes squirrels. She will pause eating date mash to chase squirrels up trees. Gray jays like it and eat more of it than they do suet or sunflower seeds. Woodpeckers would rather have suet. Chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches choose suet or sunflower seeds over the mash.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center