Skip to main content

Welcome! Be sure to visit the NABC website as well.

The Lucky Show - UPDATE September 23, 2017

Watching Lucky, as large as he is, scamper up the Pat Tree is turning into a popular show. When Lucky sees the food delivery platform in motion, he looks up.Lucky up the Pat TreeLucky up the Pat Tree If food is visible through the screen bottom, he climbs with strength and ease to everyone’s amazement and delight. They see him at eye level—eye to eye. They click away. So did I today in reverse. Lucky is a handsome bear and the only one of the four to be climbing like that for the food lately.

But that is not to demean Ted, probably most people’s favorite, and the two lady bears. Holly and Tasha put on a great play show through the summer, wrestling down in front in plain sight of the balcony and the windows.

Now, dynamics might change. We’ll see. Holly is getting ready to enter a den. She seems to have chosen the small bunker den up next to Lucky, who seems to have chosen the large bunker den. Holly stays in her small bunker pen whether the door is closed or open. Tasha digging under denTasha digging under denTasha might have denned with Holly except that Lucky rushes the fence when he sees her coming into Holly’s pen, so she doesn’t dare to join Holly. Lucky sometimes also rushes the fence toward his old play-partner Holly.

Has their relationship changed with Holly playing with Tasha instead of Lucky the last couple months? If they had a chance to reunite, would Holly resume her play with Lucky? Tasha seems to have abandoned the idea of denning with Holly and has turned to digging a den under the cabin in the cabin pen. If Holly and Lucky met outside their pens, would they rekindle the friendship they shared in play and as den mates? Would Holly end up joining Lucky in his big bunker den like she did last winter after she had dug a beautiful den? We’ll see what happens this coming week.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


Share this update: