Let Sleeping Bears Lie

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Let sleeping bears lie. Boy, oh boy, oh boy, there’s some advice you need to listen to and hold dear. Up in Yellowstone if you should be so lucky as to come across a sleeping bear the general rule is to leave it alone. I mean, don’t talk to it, don’t throw little stones at it to get its attention, and don’t under any circumstances poke it with a stick. The size of the stick doesn’t matter. The rule still holds. Let sleeping bears lie.

They make these rules for a reason. Let’s consider a moment. You got a bear, average weight maybe 300 – 350 lbs., he’s got muscles like Arnie only bigger, he doesn’t have the best temperament even when he’s reasonably happy, which is seldom, and he’s always hungry. He’s sleeping because he’s tired, probably from having to hunt for food, or fight other bears, and he’s sick of it and simply needs to take some time off. Then you’ve got this annoying little person, who for some reason or other, is no longer of sound mind that wants to interact with it, just because, well just because they want to, and you have a recipe for dire consequences.

Another reason they say leave sleeping bears lie, is they don’t always react like reasonable beings. After you have woken the bear there usually isn’t time to have a conversation explaining why you think it is important that you need to disturb it because the bear is busy biting holes in your dumb ass. And then things get serious. So pay attention, when you come across a sign, or some advice, or a posted rule saying, don’t do that, Don’t do that.

The moral of this story is pretty simple. When you notice a sleeping bear let it lie.

This has been another public service announcement from your friends at The Institute. Remember, we have your best interests at heart.

Up Past Her Bedtime

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Well it happened again. Rosie, the queen of Mt. Washburn, well-known party bear and frequent mother, attended one too many parties and has been caught out in the open by an early winter snowfall.

The younger bears, who have no sense of propriety, invited her to one last bash up on the mountain where they feasted on white bark pine nuts until they collapsed in a heap, satiated and oblivious to the weather. Rosie, usually the image of some what dubious respectability, over-indulged and is now feeling the effects of her behavior.

Rosie knows better and she is beginning to see her lack of good sense has put her in a precarious position. She has to shake off the pine nut induced stupor and get busy finding that den she should already be in. She’s eaten enough for two bears and the twins she is carrying will be well provided for through the long cold winter.

Before we’re too hard on Rosie we need to realize that she has been a good mother and having a new set of kids every two years has taxed her to the limit. She is due to let off a little steam and as one of the most experienced bears in the park she won’t have any trouble ‘denning up’ and settling in for the winter. So before those who would cast the first Turkey leg, or in Rosie’s case the first bushel of pine nuts, begin to chastise her, remember the number of times you went back for seconds or thirds on the white meat and mashed potatoes and cut her some slack. Myself I’m still trying to walk off that 4 pounds of oyster dressing I ate. In fact I wonder if there’s any of that left. Go to go, the refrigerator’s calling.

Sittin’ Here In La La Waitin’ for My …

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It isn’t often that we’re allowed a rare glimpse into the private lives of the inhabitants of Yellowstone. But that’s the case this morning as we see Rosie, a single mom, taking a few moments to herself. The kids are up a tree, they’ve been fed, and this opportunity to stop and take stock of her life comes all too infrequently. She thinks about the dreams she had as a young bear when anything was possible and she thinks about how full her life has been with two cubs every two years as regular as clockwork. She was a victim of her own biology but it was a choice she willing made at the time. But sometimes she wonders if there wasn’t more to life than she received.

At times like this she sometimes feels that there is something missing. Always in the back of her mind is the thought of Big Red, the bear that has had sired so many of her cubs. She wishes he were around more instead of the visits he pays her every other year, but she also knows that isn’t realistic. They fight, she has to constantly be on guard when he’s around the kids as he is a stern father given to moments of unexpected rage. And of course there is that wandering eye of his, but she misses him, sometimes. Like now.

The kids are wrestling up in the tree and the smaller one is squalling, scared he’s going to fall. She woofs once quietly and they cease their constant bickering. They’ll be down soon, hungry, and she’ll be nursing them until its time to feed herself and then it starts all over again. These moments come too infrequently and she cherishes her time alone. These are first year cubs so she won’t see Red for another year and a half. But there’s plenty to do, twins are a pawfull.

Fooling Bears 101

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These Sandhill cranes have a brand new family that they are raising next to Floating Island lake in Yellowstone National Park and they have brought them out to see the world. The chicks are the little orange blobs on the reed pile. One of the parents always has it’s head up scanning the area for predators. Coyotes and foxes like to eat these little ones so constant vigilance is a must. The chicks can’t fly or even run very fast and are easy prey once they are seen. Being in the tall grass and reeds next to the lake gives them somewhere to hide if they need to.

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It’s a good thing the parents are keeping a close watch because soon a black bear comes out and begins sweeping the edge of the lake for an easy meal. He’s done this before, catching an entire brood of mallards, so his experience tells him that there’s a good chance for a snack.

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Just when it appears that he will blunder into the chicks, the male takes over and pulls out his most trusted trick for getting rid of unwanted predators. Pretending that he has a damaged wing he flutters and staggers around in front of the bear deliberately trying to get it’s attention. Weighing in at up to 14 lbs and with a wingspan of up to 5 to 6 feet he makes quite a sight and is impossible to ignore. Making distressed sounds while he thrashes about helps make the act more believable. This time it works as the bear starts off after him thinking that he has a sure thing going and will soon be dining on fresh Sandhill crane, but somehow the crane manages to stay just out of his reach. Before long he has managed to lead the bear well away from the young ones while mom has the time to lead the young ones to a safer place helping them to make it through another day. That’s one more reason Mom’s are important so love your mom or the bears will get you.