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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

A Beautiful Bear Bath

It is cold and very wintery here as I'm sure you could tell from the Hachi Chronicle yesterday. I really needed a warm reminder of summer. I was cleaning files off my hard drive when I came upon some summer footage that I'd never shared. Even better, it shows a bear in a water hole that dried up very soon after the bear took a bath.

The winter of 2016-17 was very very dry. And the summer followed suit. Many of the wildlife water holes dried up in the summer of 2017. And many of them have not filled with water again, even to this day. I am hoping that the snowy start to this winter means that more water will be available to our wildlife next summer.

This was the last bear to enjoy a bath in this particular water hole before it dried up. This bear, a female, had a dark brown head and a golden body. I often see that odd combination in bears who are switching between their winter and summer coats. That means that she probably doesn't look like this now, making her hard to identify.

As she bathed, she showed us her super long tongue.

And then a full yawn.

She lolled about, enjoying the cool water.

As some of you know, there's nothing that I enjoy more than watching a video of a bear taking a bath. I hope that you enjoy the footage of this bear. And if you need a reminder of wonderful lazy summer days, I hope that this helps. It sure helped me!


14 comments:

  1. I would like to join her... but to take a bath with a bear is more than I can bear... hugs and love to all animals around you

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  2. Wow that must have felt incredibly wonderful to her on a June day. I heard maybe a grateful rumble from her during the video
    Hugs Cecilia

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  3. She looked relaxed but cautious. We hope the water holes come back this spring.

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  4. How fun all the wildlife you get to enjoy.

    Have a fabulous day. Scritches to the pups. ♥

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  5. Glorious time in the cool water, but she leapt out so quickly something must have alerted her, and after that was quite wary.

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  6. Too cool. Literally. Only thing missing is Calgon 😆

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  7. she is a beauty and looks and sounds so happy.. very sad the holes dried up. hope all your snow will fill up the ponds in thespring time

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  8. She looks very happy taking her bath and she sure does have a very long tongue!

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  9. As we're in the middle of High Temps, drought and bushfires, we don't need to be reminded of Summer...lol! But love seeing the bear. Hope that water hole fills during the winter so more animals can enjoy it.

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  10. HA, I wondered if they were bathing in the snow!

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  11. We sure hope all that snow you have already means the wildlife can have more of their swimming holes back!
    Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets

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  12. It's always fun to see wild animals relaxing and enjoying a nice bath. I guess it is something most creatures enjoy, including humans.

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  13. I tried to get than golden-y color in the watercolor I made from one of your young bear videos - I don't know if you saw it when I posted it on my blog. It was quite a while ago. I remember it because the color was a challenge and I wasn't sure I was seeing it correctly on my laptop. Sounds like I was though!

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Thanks for your comments!!!!!