Our bear family, Mohawk with her two cubs, emerged from the den all together and looking healthy. These cubs are now yearlings, and they probably have only a couple of weeks of hanging out with their mom.
Just as we saw last year, the black cub hung out close to mom and appeared more timid than the brown cub. The black cub and mom arrived at a water hole together. At this moment, the black cub is checking out a bear marking tree. You can see that he's nice and fat. So is mom.
The mom headed straight to the water hole for her first bath in months. This bear (Mohawk) has visited this water hole dozens of times since I first named her back in 2015.
Mohawk and her black cub spent about 12 minutes at the water hole, checking out my cam, and checking out marking trees before they departed. As soon as they walked away, the brown cub appeared. He must have been exploring nearby the entire time. Perhaps you remember his trademark bipedal posture from last year.
I condensed the 12 minutes of video to a much shorter synopsis. It may be our last glimpse of this family all together before mating season begins in earnest so enjoy it!
One note - last year, I believed that the black cub was a male and there was no evidence that the brown cub was a male (no penis seen in videos). Male cubs must disperse to find territories away from their mother and female cubs usually stay in their maternal territory or nearby. That means that there's a chance that this brown cub will stick around. That would be cool!
ReplyDeleteHari OM
DeleteOh it would be!!! What a joy to see this family again; do you think Mohawk was getting some human scent off the camera? It was good old sniff around! YAM xx
I think we saw this family last summer! So wonderful to see them this spring through your video.
ReplyDeletereal close up, and what thick coats they all have. Wee Brownie, so steady on those back legs, who knows what next season will show.
ReplyDeletemy favorite part is mama and her calgon moments in the water hole, she is saying Calgon take me away from these cubs all winter... love that little brown bear... i am so happy they have water in their holes now and pray they stay full all summer
ReplyDeleteWhat great footage of the mom and her cubs. It will be interesting to see how things turn out for them this summer.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know all is well with this family. Made me smile.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to the pups. ♥
Ohhh Mohawk what a fine job you did with your cubs. I noticed lots of bugs around your head glad you got to the watering hole to get rid of them
ReplyDeleteLive long and prosper my Mohawk and cubs
Hugs Cecilia
Mohawk sure did love her bath! Love watching them!
ReplyDeleteAaawwww...look how much the cubs have grown! How wonderful to see them again!!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see they all made it through the winter healthy. I just about jumped out of my skin when Mohawk checked out the cam. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to see them and to see them healthy, such an amazing thing to witness.
ReplyDeleteFascinating!
ReplyDeleteLove the brown cub, so fun to watch. It's crazy they spend the entire winter together in their den and now will go their separate ways. Nature is something.
ReplyDelete😀
ReplyDeleteYou must be so happy every spring to see your special, named, bears come out of their winter snooze, healthy and ready to begin a new cycle.
ReplyDeleteI hope the little female cub sticks around. The video was awesome. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing them again whether together or individually.
ReplyDelete