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Peaceful Negotiations - UPDATE August 11, 2016
11 August 2016
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Some bears know how to get along. Some do it by initiating play with bears you?d think they?d never dare. The non-threatening contact seems to breed trust, as we have longFreddie - 8/1/14 - by Jim Stroner
Freddie - 8/1/14 - by Jim Stroner
known from watching bears and from our own contact with them.
Ursula - 7-10-14
Ursula - 7-10-14
Freddie showed us another tactic. Last night after I went home, Mike Johnson watched bears doing things we don?t always see. Mike is a natural observer and has a special talent for recognizing bear faces.
He watched Freddie, a young adult, cautiously approach Ursula to share her pile of food. Mike said Freddie made a pleading whine, avoided eye contact, and edged in slowly. He jerked away once when it looked like he thought Ursula was going to slap, but she didn?t and Freddie persisted. She accepted him, and they quietly fed together, eventually getting so close that their noses touched as they ate.
Braveheart - 4/20/16
Braveheart - 4/20/16
The food pile ran out. No argument. Freddie just moved on to share Braveheart?s food, using the same approach tactics. Same result, but their noses never quite touched.
We know that bears that have mated sometimes share food months after, but what are the odds that Freddie (a pretty bear) was the mate of both Ursula and Braveheart?
Guy - 7/26/16
Guy - 7/26/16
Later, Guy used the same tactic (without the vocalization) to edge in on V-Dot?s food pile. Guy probably knows that V-Dot is not a bear that wants trouble. Actually, Guy might be too trusting. The other night he let Loppy edge in like that until Loppy attacked him and took over the food. Guy is a much more laid-back bear than Loppy, even though Guy did threaten another bear a few nights ago. But with V-Dot, Guy took the gentle approach. As he slowly edged in without eye contact, he carefully reached out to pull some food toward his mouth. V-Dot accepted the invasion. Together, the two finished the food pile.
V-Dot 7/17/16
V-Dot 7/17/16
Mike walked among them as needed in the dark. The bears never lifted their heads to look at him. He is familiar. The bears are trusting in this place. They showed no sign of disturbance. As I?ve often said, when bears learn to trust us, they ignore us. There are degrees of trust, though. A bear that ignores me when I come out the door, moves off if I approach from a different direction. We remember a big male (BB King) who thoroughly trusted us in the yard. We radio-collared him and repeatedly tried to home in on his signal in the woods. Loppy - 7/1/16
Loppy - 7/1/16
We never got close enough to see him before he quietly moved away. The same was true for some other radio-collared bears?all of which made us thankful for bears like June and Lily and others that learned our signals and to accept us wherever we found them and were able to convince them it was okay.
Meanwhile, back to last night, Loppy, who has a penchant for violence, had his own pile at a distance and was not part of the interactions, making all the bears happy.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
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