More cub sightings (revised)

More cub sightings.  A mild day in the low 20’s.  Good nursing.  All seems fine.

We are getting daily cub sightings like we seldom got last year at this time.  We think it is because Hope is sticking her nose in (literally).  We worried that her attempts to nurse would let too much cold air in on the cubs, but we worried in vain.  Yes she does attempt to nurse, but the cubs seem fine.  They nurse a lot and look strong when they climb.

Several Lily fans asked if Hope could make milk.  We’re all learning together on that, of course, but it hardly seems possible to us that such a young bear could do that.  She won’t be mature enough to mate for a year and a half.  On the other hand, she could mate in just a year and a half.  If Hope spends an extra year with Lily and they split in May or June of 2012, she could come into estrus the same time as Lily.  They could mate at the same time and give birth at the same time—in January 2013.  We’ll see if Hope gets big enough for all that by the time they split.

We’re still looking for another good sighting to verify the sex of the light cub.  A Lily fan asked if the light one turns out to be brown and female, might beautiful brown Crackle still be in the area to mate with her and make more brown cubs?  Probably, if he doesn’t get shot.  Although males leave their birth area and move beyond the reaches of kin to set up mating ranges, they go on using the same general mating range into old age.  Would they mate with their own daughters, then?  We don’t know for sure, but we believe so.   Would inbreeding like that lead to inferior cubs?  The only data we have is from a captive brother and sister that produced many (around 20) litters, and all the cubs seemed fine.

A Lily fan wondered if the mutual tongue-licking between Ted and Lucky might be related to using the vomeronasal organ to sense hormones.  In support of that, the vomeronasal organ, located in the roof of the mouth, is especially sensitive to compounds the size of hormones.  On the other hand, testosterone is low this time of year, according to an article on that in the journal Biology of Reproduction a few years back.  McMillin, J. M., U. S. Seal, L. L. Rogers, and A. W. Erickson. 1976. Annual testosterone rhythm in the black bear (Ursus americanus). Biology of Reproduction 15:163-167.  You can see it at http://www.bearstudy.org/website/images/stories/Publications/Annual_Testosterone_Rhythm_in_the_Black_Bear.pdf

The picture is of Education Outreach catalyst Rhonda Hennis showing dried bear scat to her students.  Rhonda is pilot-testing one of the Black Bear Boxes and stirring interest in bears.  She is in North Carolina.  The map shows the state where teachers are using Lily the Bear’s Den Cam in their classrooms.

Meanwhile, you were voting like mad to help Ely get a new heating system for the school.  http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN.  You added over 8,000 votes to jump Ely 20 places up the ranks from 93rd to 73rd with 17,868 votes.

And the sweet rolls you graciously sent to the Bear Center staff arrived!  Two of them got unceremoniously spirited off to the Research Center but didn’t make it that far.

Thank you for all you are doing.

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