Big Field Day
October 7, 2010 – 8:32 PM CDT
This will sound like Sue outworked Lynn in the field. Well, that may be true.
First, Lynn’s little part visiting Lily and Hope who are still in the small area they have been using for several days now. We wondered what they could be doing there so long. Today, they showed us. Their bed is in the middle of a dug up patch of ground around a torn stump. We suspect they have been digging for grubs, although the lack of scats suggests they haven’t found many. But there is not much else to eat this time of year, which is why bears enter dens about now. But if they are hungry enough to work that hard, why didn’t they go to one of the dozen households that feed bears in the township? People are hardly seeing bears now.
Our purpose today was to replace Lily’s collar. Yesterday, we tried to replace the batteries in her GPS unit, but we couldn’t get the zipper open. So we had to come back with a whole new outfit—actually a used outfit, the same collar and GPS unit we removed from Ursula. Maybe that is what made Lily balk at putting it on her. She raised a paw saying to wait a moment so she could smell it. Then she gave the okay to put it on. Sorry, no pictures—Sue had the camera!
Hope was full of zip yet, but Lily was very mellow and very tolerant as we tugged at her ribbons to get to the screws to undo her radio-collar. Their den is nearly a mile to the east if they ever decide to move there and start raking bedding into it. That move could come soon. Lily’s heart rate about 1 PM was 46, compared with 63 yesterday. Lily is such a wonderful bear to work with.
We can’t quite say the same for Jewel. After we removed her radio-collar yesterday, we experienced her emphatic rejection of the idea of a new one, so we tried again today. First Lynn tried, but Jewel’s look and body language let him know she wasn’t buying it. Would Lynn show courage and try anyway? Or would he heed Jewel’s look and shrink away. Sue saw his indecision and said she would try it. Lynn gladly let her try. Same story for Sue. Jewel is just saying “No” to radio-collars. She joins Hope in spending the winter without a radio-collar.
So, on to Jo. Like Lily, 2-year-old Jo has been in the same area for several days. Is she just resting and foraging like Lily and Hope? Or does sweet Jo have a den? Sue’s inquiring mind wanted to know. Jo’s GPS readings have been intermittent in the last day. Could that mean she is deep underground? Sue hiked in. She came over a hill to find Jo sitting on a pile of white sand and boulders she had pulled out of a hole barely big enough for her to enter. She has dug a den deep into a hillside. Beside the den was a big ball of grass she had raked up. We’ll have to backtrack the GPS locations to see when she first arrived at this spot. Jo was her usual sweetheart self. She noted Sue’s presence and went about raking more bedding. She backed into the den and pulled some of the bedding in behind her. Sue got some good video of the raking. The first den Jo tried out was too tight, the second den was too breezy, this den seems just right!
Every time we witness bears doing things like this, we can’t help being amazed at what they are showing us. For decades, we thought we were learning about bears by measuring tranquilized bears and putting telemetry dots on maps. Finally, the questions that were raised in those years are being answered by bears that will simply go about their business ignoring trusted researchers. And after seeing something so wonderful, we want to share it with people who care, and that is what makes writing these updates such a pleasure.
With Jo’s mystery solved, Sue was on to seeing what Braveheart is up to. She also has barely moved for days. Sue must have gotten a good night’s sleep last night, or she wanted to relieve the stress of having over 500 unanswered emails that require more than short answers. Some of them have been on her computer for weeks with too many other things requiring her time. She tackled the long walk that ended with a steep 180-foot descent (according to the topo map) down rocks and through fallen trees. At the bottom, in a beautiful swamp with cedars over 2 feet in diameter, was Bravheart, just resting with no sign of dirt in her fur. Braveheart was nice as ever. The privileged feeling we get just goes on.
Partway back, Sue phoned the research cabin and learned that Bear Center staff had delivered a huge pizza, sweet bread sticks, and a big Pepsi from Lily fans. She hurried back to make sure she got some.
At the cabin, we saw the GPS locations for Juliet and cubs are still clustered around their den. We imagined them raking bedding into it.
Then we checked Lily’s locations. Was her move with Hope to the den in progress? About 6 PM, they broke their pattern of staying in an area less than a hundred yards in diameter. By 8 PM, they had moved 0.3 miles south and then turned a tenth of a mile east northeast toward their den three quarters of a mile away. But then they headed north and then west. By 9 PM they were back in their bedsite.
Through all of our interactions with the study bears, we think three things. One, we want the world to know what black bears are really like. Two, protection is desperately needed for these bears that are the culmination of years of work covering several bear generations: no other bears in the world are revealing the behavior and ecology like these bears do every day. And three, Sue Mansfield, M.S., must be a part of the research permit. If something should happen to Lynn, the work must go on. Toward that end, we are making plans to rebuild the garage with quarters above for graduate students and interns. Sue is perhaps the only person in the world who could carry on the research, data analysis and writing. Her knowledge of these bears and the message they have for the world, together with her 20 years experience as a data analyst make her unique. We have asked in the past to have Sue added to the DNR research permit and been denied. To assure continuation of this research, there is a need to protect the study bears and put Sue in a position to continue their study.
Thank you for all you do. Today your numbers on Facebook passed 114,000 (plus perhaps an equal number who are following off Facebook). Today, you kept Ely Schools in the lead 2,389 to 624 in the effort to bring $20,000 to Ely’s Schools at http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/2704/054/. Meanwhile, progress continued on the Education Outreach Project.
The story of today’s visit to Lily and Hope will be on Duluth’s Northland News Channel 6 Monday night (October 11) with a second part to follow, according to reporter David Hoole.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center