Curators Talk Yearlings

Today we offer a video of a Facebook Live chat with three of the ABR curators, talking about the four yearlings who are currently residing at ABR. The first 5 minutes or so is Curator David showing off the improvements to the Red Roof Recovery Center. You can skip over that part, if you wish, to get to the rest of the session where they show footage and discuss the activities of the yearlings. Click here to see this informative video.

 

Boudreaux vs Camera

We don’t know why, but it seems that Boudreaux Bear is absolutely fascinated with the security camera in Acclimation Pen #4. It is in a position that allows him to reach it when he stands on the ramp to the loft, and reach it he does. Look at what happened on a recent evening.

Boudreaux enters the Acclimation Pen.

Beignet follows her brother into the Acclimation Pen. We can see him up in the loft.

They change places with Beignet climbing up to the loft and Boudreaux heading toward the camera.

Uh-oh! Boudreaux stands up to reach the camera.

Now what? Beignet approaches. Is she trying to stop him or does she want to help? We can’t tell. Maybe she’s just being an annoying sister.

The camera records a good image of Boudreaux’s belly.

Here is a very close picture of Boudreaux’s nose.

Now we see a different angle, with a profile view.

What a big nose you have, Boudreaux!

What is Beignet doing? As before, we really don’t know whether she is congratulating him or scolding him.

Jessamine joins the twins and they settle down in the loft for a while.

Later during the night, they moved to Beignet’s daybed where they spent the rest of the night and were still sleeping in the morning.

Interestingly enough, Boudreaux is the only one of the yearlings to be so intrigued by the camera. Is it a male bear thing? Or is it just a Boudreaux Bear thing? We’ll probably never know the answer, but it does pose an interesting question.

 

King B's Late Night

Now that he is outside, our little King B has revised his schedule somewhat. He does a lot of exploring during the day, and seems to like to stay up late at night.

Balthazar forages in his enclosure. He is finding peanuts, which he enjoys.

At 11:00 he was popping in and out of the pine trees on the ground.

It’s 1:00 in the morning and King B is still active, stretching before he forages.

Daytime, and there he is, sleeping at the base of the tree. This seems to be his favorite sleeping place.

Seeing him up closer; it’s close to 9:00 am and King B is still curled up, asleep. Can’t blame him, after his late night!

When we say he was “up late,” that’s just from our viewpoint, of course. What is “late” for a bear, anyway? Their night vision is much better than ours, so maybe that’s the best time to be up and about. It seems to work for him, at least.

 

A Fabulous Find!

Beignet Bear found a wonderful treasure – a root!

Beignet discovered the root on the ground. FYI – roots are an important food in the early spring, when things haven’t yet started to grow.

Beignet lies back and chews on her root, finding it chewy and delicious.

Jessamine noticed and of course came over to see what it was.

Fighting ensued. Bears don’t hesitate to try and take away something that is perceived as desirable.

Beignet stood up to show her size and assert her ownership.

Ha! Jessamine got the root away from Beignet.

Beignet wants it back.

As it turned out, Jessamine was the winner. In typical bear fashion, once she had it she no longer wanted it, and neither did Beignet!

In case you think the two bears continued their fight over the root, they did not, and later on all three of the yearlings went to sleep in Beignet’s daybed, which seems to have become the preferred spot.

Three yearlings, asleep in Beignet’s daybed the next morning.

Young bears do not like to share. But by the same token, young bears do not hold a grudge for long. While an argument or even a fight can occur over most anything, the altercation is short-lived.

 

A Video for You

Every so often the curators do a Facebook Live session and show recent footage from the security cameras in the enclosures. We thought you would enjoy this one, especially since you saw photos of Jessamine and Beignet at the vertical den the other day, and this video begins with the two females at the vertical den once again. You’ll see them investigating it quite extensively and then along comes Boudreaux to see what is going on. The three bears spend several minutes at the vertical den. We wonder if they found insects inside, or something else that was tasty. The video lasts for over twenty minutes, but of course you can exit whenever you want. At the end, there is a very short segment of Balthazar (King B) who is snuggled into his favorite tree, sleeping in the rain. Click here to watch the ABR bears and hear the curators talk about them.

 

Cold and Windy Night

It sounds like the beginning of a spooky tale – “It was a cold, dark, and windy night . . .” but that was really the case at ABR. Bears being bears, the yearlings were not in a hurry to go inside.

The three yearlings were foraging in late afternoon.

Silly Boudreaux! He rolled around on the ground with his feet in the air!

Boudreaux struck a Buddha pose, and Beignet came up quietly behind him.

The curators were glad that the three yearlings climbed onto their platform. It was very windy.

It was even better to see them all go into the loft in the Acclimation Pen, where they spent the night sleeping. Much better than in the trees!

Often, our bears give the curators more grey hairs because of their actions that we humans perceive as dangerous. But every once in a while, like in this case, the curators feel that the bears have chosen wisely and taken the safe course.

 

Yearlings at Night

Day or night, it’s interesting to see what our yearlings are doing. A few days ago, we observed some behavior we thought was worth sharing.

Noontime: Beignet slept on the platform for quite a while during the day.

Late afternoon, Beignet and Boudreaux foraged together.

After it got dark, Jessamine was seen foraging.

Something interested her in the vertical den. No one has used this den as yet.

Beignet was curious, and came to see what Jessamine was doing.

It looks like Beignet wants to participate in whatever Jessamine is doing.

There was definitely a discussion. It appears to us that Jessamine told Beignet to back off. She didn’t want to share.

Could this be a yearling dance? Looks like it!

A round of fisticuffs ensued.

Bourdeaux wisely stayed away and out of the girls’ way.

Jessamine climbed into the vertical den to check it out.

Jessamine reported back to Beignet. Nothing to see there.

We can’t help but wonder if Beignet didn’t climb in herself, to double check. If she did, it wasn’t captured on camera. But bears being as curious as they are, we wouldn’t be surprised.