Eli on 5-23-14Lily Fans rock! Just when I was leaning toward the mystery 2-year-old being Cole, Lily Fans came up with pictures that changed my mind. After seeing pictures of Eli as a yearling, I am now very certain he is the 2-year-old. Identity was important because the only way to interpret the behavior I was seeing was through knowing his background. Now we can put things together better. When he began to trust me last night, I believe he wanted to sniff my head. That’s where my trust failed. I was cautious about doing that with such a nervous bear. Lest anyone worry that this bear would go around wanting to sniff everyone’s head, that’s not how it works. What we’ve seen over the decades in this study and others is that bears build certain relationships with certain people. Some bears can bridge to new people if approached in the right way. Others will not build trust with anyone.
Cole and June - 6/28/201310-year-old Burt is an example. He showed up a couple nights ago. I was out in the dark trying to put some food on the scale. I was making so much noise rattling a bag that I heard or saw nothing until Burt touched me. Startled, I looked to see what bear would dare do that. It was Burt who I bonded with when he was still in his den. Back in 2005, we touched noses and did other bonding activities—both with him and his sister Ursula—during the critical socialization period between eye-opening and den emergence. That is the only explanation I can offer for the calm trust these two bears show once they identify me. Do they go up to other people, to hikers, to hunters, to landowners? I don’t know of a single complaint filed about either of these bears. I don’t know of anyone even seeing Burt in the woods or in a yard. Ursula has a territory away from people. Burt travels a bigger area, being a male. Both have survived this past decade. During that time, Ursula has worn a collar only a small portion of her life, and Burt has never worn one. Both are very wary of people. Burt is calm here at the WRI where he has known security and good treatment without fail. Here, in a small area beside WRI, anyone is trusted.
Cole on July 7, 2013When I recognized his scars, I got his weight, then wanted him off the scale to see what it said without him. He quickly understood my every action and respectfully followed my lead. It was a memorable moment—the kind that Black Bear Course Participants say is life-changing. Burt has always been a totally trustworthy bear—one that I would readily let sniff my head. Same for Ursula.
Good things are happening for the Northwoods Ecology Hall. A couple days ago, an Ojibwe man who walked with bears with me as a teenage college student back in the 1980’s called to thank me for that “gift” of learning about his totem, the bear. He is a member of the Bear Clan. We talked. I have always wanted the Ojibwe Nation represented in the Bear Center—and especially now in the expanded Northwoods Ecology Hall. The way the Ojibwe people who preceeded us here in the Ely area coexisted with nature as hunter-gatherers and didn’t try to eliminate bears and other animals that so many people fear today. At 47, this man has already demonstrated his desire and ability to help the Bear Center and the new addition. We’ll all see the exhibit that results in the Northwoods Ecology Hall.
Comparison Lily Fan sent in (left to right) Cole, mystery bear, Eli
Another good thing was a talk on monarch butterflies I attended in Ely today. The speaker very much wants to help us create a monarch butterfly exhibit in the Northwoods Ecology Hall and help us develop a butterfly garden in the bear enclosure. All are part of encouraging people, especially children and young adults, to care for our environment.
photo from last night's updateIt’s National Teacher Appreciation Week. I can think of no one who more effectively encouraged students to care for their environment than Lily Fan teachers who shared the Den Cams with their students. I can think of no more effective tool for encouraging students to develop care for the environment than watching a bear be born and raised by a caring mother and then watching them make a living in the woods.
I get so many letters from teachers who miss the Den Cams. They tell how their students miss them, too. I wish the governor, DNR commissioner, and legislators could see those letters.
Photo of young male taken April 27, 2015I wish the DNR commissioner would explain why he prohibited public broadcast of the Den Cams. He offered no explanation beyond saying he didn’t like it when a handful (no more than 50 out of hundreds of thousands) of Lily Fans spoke out against hunting. It doesn’t make sense that for the comments of a few he would throw away all that the Den Cams did for our knowledge of bears, to inspire students to care about nature, and how the Den Cams inspired Lily Fans to help Minnesota like they did. I don’t remember the reason for prohibiting public broadcast of the Den Cams ever being explained during the hearing. There was vague mention of the public broadcasts being a public safety issue, but the judge didn’t buy it. The only evidence about Den Cams presented by the DNR was an altered video in which normal cub sounds were amplified so drastically that it sounded like the cubs were being killed. I would dearly love to resume broadcasts of the Den Cams for science and education and so young students can be further encouraged to care about their environment. Lily Fan Teachers were terrific. I see no reason this kind of education shouldn’t continue. Yes, the DNR set up a procedure so teachers could supposedly see the Den Cams, but it was unworkable, and they knew it.
A big thank you to these teachers for all they have done and for the willingness they have expressed to continue using the Den Cams if they were reinstated.
Along that line, a graduate student will be receiving a $4,000 stipend from the WRI this summer to analyze and help write up a portion of the Den Cam data. A big thank you to him and his professor and to the Black Bear Field Course participants whose donations made the stipend possible.
3-year-old Fern just showed up, one of the bears we listed as a 50/50 chance of having cubs. No cubs. Sweet as ever. With no cubs this year, she would be a super bear to host a Den Cam next year when she will almost certainly have cubs. She has a great start toward that at 173 pounds. She is calm and would easily accept installation of a Den Cam.
Thank you all for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center