Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
This behavior is very difficult to document, however, since black bears are so elusive and their actions
are generally concealed by forest growth.
Why would bears kill cubs of their own species? There are two plausible— though un-
proven—reasons. The first is that male bears can somehow identify their own offspring and kill only
the cubs fathered by other males. This makes evolutionary sense, since the male is helping to ensure
that, by eliminating a rival's cubs, its own genes will be those passed down through the population.
The second possible reason is that a female bear comes into heat within forty-eight hours after she
stops nursing, following the loss of her cubs. The act of killing cubs thus presents the male with a
double benefit: he has eliminated a rival's cubs, and he can now impregnate the female himself.
Black bears are extremely wary and difficult to see in the wild. Their rather poor eyesight is com-
pensated for by marvelous hearing and sense of smell, and they use those faculties to avoid humans
whenever possible. Consequently, many people who have spent a great deal of time in the woods, even
in good bear habitat, have never seen a single truly wild bear. Our family has been extremely fortunate
in this regard, for we've seen several bears on or very close to our land, as well as two thoroughly wild
bears elsewhere. Two of these incidents were especially interesting.
Two years ago our daughter-in-law, Ellen, accompanied by our grandson, Davey, who was nine at
the time, was driving up the road that leads to their house and ours. It's a very rural, winding road that
goes uphill through the woods, with sharp banks on both the downhill and uphill sides.
As the car rounded a corner, there, sitting in the middle of the road, was a bear with two cubs! As
Ellen and Davey exclaimed in astonishment at the sight, Mama Bear rose to her feet and, accompanied
by the cubs, ran up the bank on the upper side of the road and disappeared in a flash.
While Ellen and Davey were still talking excitedly about what they had just seen, a
third
cub sud-
denly popped over the edge of the bank on the lower side of the road and emerged into the road. Instead
of finding Mama there, as it expected, the little cub found only a big, frightening piece of machinery.
There was only one thing to do, and that was seek safety by climbing a tree. Up the nearest big tree
went the cub, where it began to wail piteously for its mother. After two or three minutes of the cub's
outcry, Ellen wisely decided to leave, so that the mother could retrieve her errant cub. Sure enough,
when Ellen and Davey drove back to the spot a few minutes later, the third cub was gone.
The most memorable of my own bear sightings took place on our land during the archery season for
deer. I have a favorite tree stand that overlooks a rather open area with three apple trees often visited
by deer. This happens to be the same tree stand from which I watched the porcupine plowing its way
through the deep autumn leaves (see chapter 5).
It had rained earlier in the day, so I made little noise on the wet leaves as I approached the stand. Be-
cause I've occasionally arrived to find deer already feeding under the apple trees, I moved slowly and
cautiously over a knoll that overlooks the area. There were no deer, but there was a black object under
the nearest apple tree, about thirty-five yards away. My first thought was that it was a black Labrador,
but I almost instantly rejected that idea in favor of a very large porcupine. Then it dawned on me that
