Lots of Nursing

Somehow, in the dead of night while the Den Cam was down, the bright pieces of vegetation disappeared and the picture improved.

Today, it was reassuring to hear the new cubs nursing while Hope rested.  We no longer fear that Hope might take too much milk.

We are dreaming of the future.

Will Lily have a favorite cub like her mother June did?  Will the cubs play with both Lily and Hope?  Will Hope behave more like a fellow cub or like a mom?  Will she protect the cubs?

Hope became such a strong and independent cub during the separation this past year that we wonder what role she will take.

What kinds of personalities will the cubs have?

In Grandma June’s first litter, Sneaky Pete (his official name) had a playful personality and was June’s favorite.  He stayed near June most of the time and they played with reckless abandon.  Curious George, the independent one, frequently wandered off to explore.  He played with Pete but when June tried to play with him he would squawk and run off.  A week before family breakup, George left for 3 days.  Within 5 days after family breakup, he moved 13 miles away and settled there.  We visited him there that fall, removed his radio-collar, and said goodbye, never to see him again.  Precocious Pete remained near his birthplace for a couple years and mated with his Aunt Juliet when he was a 2-year-old.  He never allowed us radio-collar him, so we don’t know where he lives most of the year, but we still see him when he re-visits his birth area each year in late summer.

In Grandma June’s second litter, Lily was the favorite.  She stuck near June and played with her a lot—as she also did with her brother Cal.  Brother Bud was the ‘odd man out’ from the beginning.  Lily and Cal relegated him to the inferior inguinal nipples.  As yearlings, Lily hung out with June, while Cal and Bud teamed up.  Like George, Bud left the area soon after family break-up, while Cal stayed around for nearly another year and even paid a final visit as a 3-year-old before dispersing over 80 miles away.  Of course, Lily established her territory near her birthplace, sharing it with June for awhile until June shifted away.

Your fundraising efforts in honor of Lily and Hope’s birthdays are deeply appreciated, as you know.  A Lily fan sent in your generous tallies for those five days.  So many of you participated.  When you saw Team Bear’s fundraising drawings, you contributed $2,115.  When you saw Sue Yost’s challenge, you contributed $1,155.  When you saw Sarah Curtis’s challenge, you contributed $4,704.  When you saw the Pond Chat initiatives, you contributed $4,675.  All that, plus an anonymous donor’s $500 totaled $13,149 and reduced the Bear Center’s debt to under $100,000.  The picture shows what the Pond Chat folks did.

During that time, you also threw a birthday party at the Bear Center with enough delicious food that you set us to competing for leftovers.  Thank you so much for the contributions, the food, and the time you put into making so many things happen.  You are working for protection for radio-collared bears, working to expand the Education Outreach Program, working to have another great Lilypad Picnic in Ely so we can put more faces to names, and working to support the Bear Center and the research in any way you can.  Thank you for all of that!

Thank you for all you do.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center