Great scat!
July 11, 2010 – 4:32 PM CDT
Yesterday we visited Hope twice in an attempt to obtain a scat. Finally, she complied. Of course it contained remains of nuts, grapes, and mealworms from us, but it also contained wild foods. Hope has been a busy little cub. Or, it’s almost time to be saying big cub. We want to figure out how to use a bathroom scale and boards to weigh her, but we are guessing 30 pounds. We’ll see how close that comes to reality. The scat contained some remains of yellow-jacket hornets and crayfish along with seeds from blueberries, dewberries, bunchberries, and wild sarsaparilla. Interestingly, it did not contain seeds from blue bead lily, elderberry, and baneberry, three berries bears don’t eat around here. After the two feedings yesterday, we left her to her own devices today. We don’t want to feed her so much that we inhibit natural foraging.
Today, Lynn discovered an email that Sue forwarded to him a month ago. He watched it and was very touched to find a beautiful video and song for his anniversary. It was put together by Madelene Ostrowski and contained comments from 89 of you. Lynn wished Donna were with him to watch it. He forwarded it home so he and Donna can watch it together tonight. Thank you so much.
Actually, there have been many things come including framed pictures, drawings, flowers, and more that deserved special thank-yous that never got written with all that is going on. We deeply appreciate all you do. We hope that you feel our thanks through the airwaves as we do our best to learn and educate about the bears.
It is amazing to see your surge of effort to keep the NABC in the top 5 in the Chase contest as competitors scramble to break into the top 5. You’re coming through. We’re hearing bits and pieces about how hard you’re working to come up with the votes. We are narrowly in 4th place again.
To vote for the NABC, click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411838192-north-american-bear-center
To vote for the Wildlife Research Institute, click on this link: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/237320150-wildlife-research-institute
Thank you for your continued support of our research and education.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center