Lucky climbs to forage Lucky is doing what some wild bears are doing at this time—climbing aspen trees and eating the male catkins that are bursting forth—and it is quite a show. Somehow, Lucky detected the catkins and has scampered up tree after tree in the last few days. His movements seem effortless—the way he runs, the way he climbs. We don’t remember seeing a bear run with such flowing grace. Lucky is lean after a winter in the den and is full of energy.
Honey's pen takes shapeStaff and volunteers from as far away as Wisconsin and North Carolina made great progress in erecting a pen for Honey that Lily Fans paid for a few months back. A big thank you to all who helped!
Yesterday morning at 1:12 AM, a Lily Fan caught one of Juliet’s cubs backing up to defecate as the picture showed in the update last night (http://www.bearstudy.org/website/updates/daily-updates/2370-juliet-and-cubs-leave-the-den-update-may-1-2014-.html). It was nice to see the cub observing den etiquette and not soiling the bed. It also shows that by now (actually May 1st) Juliet no longer has to lick the cubs to stimulate defecation and clean them up. This is the latest cubs have remained in a den with a Den Cam and team of Lily Fans to watch them. However, Lily’s cubs last spring were actually older when they left the den than Juliet’s cubs were. Lily’s cubs were 101 days old when they moved from the den on April 23 after being born on January 12. Juliet’s were 98 days old when they left on May 1 after being born on January 23.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.