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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This winter while out walking my dog, I came across a skull. Actually, my dog discovered the skull. My first thought was that it was a predator of some sort (note the canines). Badger came to mind, and after talking it over with a friend, we determined it couldn't be a badger.
I hesitated posting it here because I still wasn't sure what animal it had been. Eventually my friend (thanks, Bob!) posted it online to get an answer as to what animal this once had been. To my suprise, the answer came back as a baby black bear cub.
Although stunned, I shouldn't have been. I had noticed over the winter tracks that appeared to be made by a bear. When I mentioned it to a couple of people, I was laughed at. 'No bears around here,' I was told. I shrugged it off, but still, there was a twinge of doubt.
Once the answer came back that this is indeed the skull of a baby bear, I felt vindicated, then saddened. I hope this youngster didn't meet it's fate at the hands of man.
Not knowing much about bear cubs, I swiped some information from http://www.fws.gov/species/species_accounts/bio_bear.html
Black bear cubs are generally born in January or February. The blind cubs weigh about « to 3/4 of a pound at birth, and twins are most common. By spring thaw, when the bears start leaving their dens, the cubs are fur-balls of energy, inquisitive and playful. They are weaned between July and September of their first year, and stay with the mother through the first full winter. They are usually independent by the second winter.
Cub survival is totally dependent on the skill of the mother in teaching her cubs what to eat, where and how to forage (find food), where to den, and when and where to seek shelter from heat or danger.
Except for breeding and raising young, black bears are generally solitary animals. They try to avoid humans and are considered non-aggressive except when injured, protecting their young, or protecting themselves. Daily movements are influenced greatly by temperature and food availability. Bears usually feed in the cool of the evening or early morning. During the heat of the day, they will seek shade in dense underbrush. Home ranges are determined by food types, abundance, and availability, and can be as small as 1 square mile or as great as 100 square miles.
Rugged terrain and dense shrubs provide escape cover and den sites for black bears. Black bears also seek den sites under fallen trees, in hollow trees or caves, or in previously occupied dens. They are excellent tree climbers, and will use trees to escape from danger. When possible, black bears will choose streams with dense bankside shrubbery as travel corridors to and from food sources.
The black bear's primary predator is man. During the American colonial period and after, black bears were hunted almost to extinction on the East Coast. Many states paid bounties for bears, and as late as 1977, there was still a bounty law on the books in Highland County, Virginia (even though it had been more than 30 years since the last bounty was paid).
In addition to the historical uncontrolled harvest encouraged by bounties, black bear numbers were reduced by timber harvesting and burning, clearing land for crops and grazing, and other encroachments associated with an expanding civilization. By the early 1900s, the once-numerous black bear could be found only in remote mountainous areas of Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
As small farms failed and people moved back to the cities, bear habitat slowly recovered and populations started to increase. The early establishment of national parks and national forests in the East helped save the black bear in that region.
Although attitudes concerning bears and other game animals were changing and wildlife laws protecting black bears and other animals were being enacted, the understanding of black bear biology, behavior, and habitat requirements remained incomplete. It wasn't until the 1960s that methods and techniques for safely trapping, immobilizing, and handling such powerful animals were developed. More has been learned about the habits and needs of the black bear in the last 30 years than in all of recorded history.
Thanks to this new knowledge and understanding, and better management, black bear populations have recovered significantly. However, they are not out of danger.
I still don't know what caused the demise of this cub, but I only pray that the mother is still safe and that she'll be able to have another cub - or perhaps she had twins. I can always try to think hopeful in that perhaps two cubs couldn't survive, but one could. |
vanderschelden, tuslaw, eqshannon, Art_R, inked, oscarromulus has marked this note useful
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