Footage of baby bears
with their mother so beautiful,
you just may shed a tear
when you see it!
These
copyrighted photos were taken in the Southeastern United
States. They are of many
different bears in different places. This page is
devoted to a discussion about things that we have noticed
about black bear behavior.
Shown Above:
"Mother of
Four" - "Tagged"
"Poser" -
"American Black Bear"
"Mother of Four"
(upper left) was featured in both Bear I and Bear II programs, just
because of the wonderfulness of her and her cubs. These
bears were stripping off these tiny black cherries and
loving them. It has been rare for us to see a bear with four
cubs, although it does happen if the previous season's nuts
were abundant. If there are lots of acorns in the fall,
there will usually be lots of babies the following winter
and spring. There is a theory that a black bear will have
only as many cubs as she can provide for in the winter den.
"Tagged"
(upper right) was
another (different) mother of four cubs, and I remember her
disposition was not as good as the cherry bear had been two
years before. But as long as we kept a great distance from
the oak tree, she was okay with us. She had a tag in each
ear. She and her cubs were in Great Smoky Mountains National
Park.
"Poser"
(lower left) is
actually the same bear as "Yonah" just in a different
position. A truly wonderful bear with three cubs. I remember
she was very focused on those nuts and barely looked our
way. It was almost denning time, and when food is growing
scarce, those bears are very narrowly focused on getting
enough calories to fatten up for winter.
"American Black
Bear"
(lower right)
was a feisty sub-adult, who obviously remembered where to
find good acorns in his second autumn, and away from his
mother for the first year. He frequently had quizzical looks
in our direction, as if to say, "who are you and why aren't
you gathering nuts?"
Shown Above:
"Acrobat" -
"September Bear"
"Claws" -
"Treehouse"
The bear in
"Acrobat"
(upper left) seemed undecided as to which tree trunk to follow!
The photo
"Claws"
(lower left) was
of a sleeping bear in an oak tree, with his
huge paws hanging down. As you see here, bears have very
sharp claws. We did not wake him up. This photo is for sale
at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm.
"Treehouse"
(lower right) is
actually a farther-away shot of "Little Brother" and that
was an eight-month-old bear snoozing away in a huge oak
tree. Bears are very cute when they are sleeping - they
twitch and have bear dreams I expect.
Shown Above:
"Mother and
Child" - "Yonah"
"Holding On"
- "Sisters"
The sequence of
events for
"Mother and Child"
(upper left) was enormously important from
a documentation point of view. This mother had four cubs in
an oak tree in September. One of the cubs was smaller than
the rest. We witnessed her actually mushing up acorns and
feeding him by mouth, something that bear experts had said
had not previously been photographed. This photo is for sale
at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm. We included
this footage on "Season of the Bear, Volume II: Black Bear
Cubs."
"Yonah"
(upper right) was
another interesting occurrence. This was an adult bear in a
hickory nut tree that suddenly heard some noise far off in
the distance. She turned on the branch and sat quite still
for a long time, looking in the direction of a distant stand
of trees, sniffing and listening intently. Two of her cubs
kept on eating nuts, but the other took his cue from her,
and also peered off at those woods. We never knew what had
alarmed her. This photo is for sale at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm.
"Holding On"
(lower left) was
(for a wild bear) sort of fat, and that was a good thing for
him. He would have to go a long while without food in the
den. This photo, along with other bears, is shown on
our large blank notecards at
http://www.covebear.com/notecards.htm.
"Sisters"
(lower right) was a
very hard shot to get. First of all they were way up high.
When cubs play in a tree, they like to peek at one another
and hide in the leaves, so to be able to get a shot of them
together is very difficult. At one point mama bear came down
to the ground and so we had to stop the camera and watch her
until she went back up. When she came down she concentrated
on acorns; we could hear her - she sounded like a vacuum
cleaner scooping up those nuts that had fallen to the
ground.
Shown Above:
"The Look" -
"Bear Tree At Dawn"
"The Bear Tree"
- "Little Brother"
"The Look"
(upper left) is
priceless. If you look closely, this cub is chewing acorns,
and he sort of ground them sideways. He would sit up there
and grind acorns and stare at us as if to say, "Don't you
have any acorns?" This photo is for sale at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm.
Bear trees such
as "The Bear Tree" (oak)
(lower left) and
"Bear Tree At Dawn" (hickory
nut) (upper right) were amazing to see. The bears will eat a while, play a
while, sleep a while, and then eat some more. Seeing bears
on a sturdy oak limb is exciting, but seeing them on small
nut tree limbs is awesome. This hickory nut tree full of
bears was found just as the light was coming up one November
morning.
The mother bear
shown in
"The Bear Tree"
(lower left) advised her cubs that she was tired
and they should all take naps. And they did!
"Little Brother"
(lower right) is a zoomed shot of "Treehouse." We liked this shot because
of his paw and claws showing. This photo is for sale
at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm. This
bear is on the cover of our first bear DVD, "Season of the
Bear, Volume I: American Black Bear." See a
description of this DVD at
http://www.covebear.com/SeasonOfTheBearOne.htm.
Shown Above:
"Sweet Dreams" -
"Hanging Out"
"Baby Face" -
"Gatherer of Acorns"
"Sweet Dreams"
(upper left) was one of two cubs in a tree, parked there by their mother.
She was not to be found, but we knew she would be back. This
photo is for sale at
http://www.covebear.com/photographs.htm.
"Hanging Out"
(upper right) was a cinnamon brown sub-adult. He was out on his own, and
without his family. We have noticed that the mother will
drive the cubs away usually in the spring of their second
year. After a full year of family life and playing together
and feeling secure in the family group, these single
sub-adults sometimes appear to be lonely and bored, although
they will get accustomed to a solitary life after a while.
This North Carolina 19-month-old bear stayed in this wild
cherry tree a whole day, mostly sleeping up there and eating
in between naps. For us, it was hot and buggy that day, but
he looked cool up in high in the tree.
"Baby Face"
(lower left) was
a cub we saw in the woods years ago, who just kept making
these funny faces.
"Gatherer of
Acorns"
(lower right) was the runt of the pack, much smaller than his
siblings, but seemed to be eating more than the others. He
was quite busy. Cubs in trees are shown on our second bear
DVD at
http://www.covebear.com/SeasonOfTheBearTwo.htm.
Shown Above:
"You Win" - "Cub
On The Ground"
"Keeping Up" -
"The Stomp"
"You Win"
(upper left) was
the end of a play time for these two cubs. They were a
couple of cut-ups alright. These two cubs are shown playing
hard in the DVD at
http://www.covebear.com/SeasonOfTheBearTwo.htm.
"Cub On The
Ground"
(upper right) was near a field in Cades Cove in GSMNP. That was a
one-baby family. The preceding autumn did not have a good
acorn (hard mast) crop, and so that year there were not an
over abundance of cubs.
"Keeping Up"
(lower left) was an interesting encounter: the mother bear
and the other baby had come down the tree and crossed our
path to go to a stream. This cub came down after they had
left, saw me in dark clothes, thought I was its mother, and
bounded over to me and my camera. Before it could get to me,
I made lots of noise and clapped my hands so that it would
not come near me. I did not want the mother to look back and
see the cub with me at all! He looked startled, looked up at
my face, and thankfully ran away quickly to catch up with
mama.
"The Stomp"
(lower right) was taken at dusk and the photo is dark too. We are not ever
sure what puts a bear in a bad mood. But twice we have come
upon a bear in the woods that was in there stomping around,
all alone. Right after this shot, she laid down in the
forest leaves.
Shown Above:
"Cherry Picker"
- "Dusty Paws"
"Baby Bed" -
"First Warning"
"Cherry Picker"
(upper left) was an adult just really enjoying wild cherries.
"Dusty Paws"
(upper right) -
Terrific paw!
If you look
closely at
"Baby Bed"
(lower left) you will see that this cub's head is
propped up over in one crook of the branches, and his two
feet are propped up on another branch. While bears do
sometimes fall out of trees, most of the time they seem to
be quite comfortable up there. There were times that we
became excited to have found black bears in trees, only to
have to wait 2 hours for them to wake up.
"First Warning"
(lower right)
is self-explanatory. We left! Note: This is one
of only a couple of times we ever saw a bear's face give
away its mood.
Shown Above:
"Brothers" -
"The Watcher In The Wood"
"Oak Alley" -
"The Bear Highway"
"Brothers"
(upper left) was a typical photo of cubs at play. Bear cubs play all the
time. And they play rough. We have seen them rolling around,
pouncing on each other, biting scratching, wrestling, and
swatting. These two guys had to appear in our videos.
"The Watcher In
The Wood"
(upper right) shows a cub propping his chin on a branch as he
peers out over the forest. Bears love trees and wood. They
play with wood, they sleep on wood, they find food on wood,
and they are frequently born inside of wood.
"Oak Alley"
(lower left) was
about 6 oak trees all in one spot, and this cub had one
sibling and a mama bear up in the next tree. After this
shot, he scurried up the trunk to meet them.
"The Bear
Highway"
(lower right) is what large tree limbs seem to be. Those bears
can really maneuver through a tree.
Shown Above:
"On Guard" -
"Safe In This Tree"
"Playtime In The
Oaks" - "At Nine Months"
"On Guard"
(upper left) was a lone Georgia adult bear who paused on a hill above our
trail, sniffing the air. He paralleled the trail walking up
on the ridge. I am sure he smelled us there, but did not
venture down the hill, and did not seem curious about us at
all. He would raise his head now and then and sniff and look
off into the distance. He just went his way and we went
ours, and that is usually best.
"Safe In This
Tree"
(upper right)
was another little sleeping bear face. Boy, can those
bears sleep. In the summer, they sleep through the hottest
part of the day, and actually travel around a lot at night.
Bears are generally more active at dusk and dawn. About the
only thing that will lure a bear out of a sleeping tree
during siesta time is sweet ripe blackberries, and they
check on those regularly.
"Playtime In The
Oaks"
(lower left) were two very young cubs left unattended up high in an
oak tree. The air was thick with biting bugs that day, but
the cubs did not seem to be bothered with them. These two
were so small. They must start climbing right away. They
stay safe that way.
"At Nine Months"
(lower right) was shot on a beautiful October day near the Blue Ridge. No
sign of the mother so we did not linger.
Shown Above:
"Siesta" -
"Alone In The Woods"
"Afternoon Nap"
- "Young Boar"
"Siesta"
(upper left) was a
huge mama bear, just pooped from keeping up with those kids.
"Alone In The
Woods"
(upper right) is the same bear as in "The Stomp" shown earlier;
judging from her teats, she did have cubs somewhere, but we
did not see them. It was getting dark by this time, and we
had to get out of there. It was a curious sight; this is the
only time we have ever seen an adult bear just lie down on
the ground in the woods like that. But then, when you think
about it, they must do it all the time.
"Afternoon Nap"
(lower left) was another sub-adult we discovered on a hike one day in
August. He is in a wild cherry tree.
The sub-adult in
"Young Boar"
(lower right) took a lot of time getting at some acorns in a
tree that had obviously already been visited by hungry
bears. We saw the evidence by way of broken branches at the
base of the tree, and lots of leaves strewn around in the
grass. There were also many empty acorn "hats" lying around.
He was very high up when we spotted him here.
Shown Above:
"Teddy Bear
Walk" - "Oak Manor"
"Sub-Adult
Napping In Cherry Tree" - "Bear Tree At Dusk"
This cub in
"Teddy Bear Walk"
(upper left) was quite busy one afternoon in the
Tennessee Smokies. He was actually the smallest of three
cubs in that tree, but was packing away the calories along
with the rest for winter. Bears just love big oak trees.
The bear in
"Oak
Manor"
(upper right) was just a beautiful bear. His fur was thick and
shiny and his face was quite handsome. All bear faces are
different. This was a cub just under a year old.
"Sub-Adult
Napping In Cherry Tree"
(lower left) was one summer on a very hot and
humid afternoon - we were walking by and saw him up there
quite by accident. Remember when you are in black bear
country, they are all around you.
"Bear Tree At
Dusk"
(lower right) was a jaw-dropping sight!
Shown Above:
"The Harvest"
- "At Work In The Treetops"
"10-Month-Old
Cub In Nut Tree" - "Cracking Hickory Nuts"
Nothing prepared
us for black bears up in hickory nut trees. It was an
amazing sight. I recall we were very cold and there was ice
on the ground in November. It was very uncomfortable, but
well worth the effort to get these shots plus the video of
them crunching away. When you watch bears in the wild, you
can see that their focus is food. I have seen a bear
concentrate on getting one particular nut, and the
problem-solving thought process that went into that was all
over his face.
Shown Above:
"Harder Than It
Looks" - "I Want That One"
"Balance Is
Everything" - "Tasty Nuts"
How these big
bears keep their balance, and how they know how far to go
out onto a narrowing limb is a mystery. But they are
excellent tree climbers. In the Southeast, November nuts are
just about the last meals for black bears, before they go
back into the winter den. All of these shots came from one
morning, during which we watched these bears for about 4
hours. It felt like our feet were frozen to the ground. We
knew these would be the last bears we would see that year,
so we stayed as long as they were there. They all came down
and ran away after a while, leaving us there to marvel at
their skill.
