The story below is an excerpt from our July/August 2018 issue. For more photos and other stories like it subscribe today, log in to read our digital edition or download our FREE iOS app. Thank you!
These charmingly intimate views of a female black bear and her cubs—which are born at a mere eight ounces—show the deep personal connection between mama and her babies. In accordance with law and good practice, however, the images were shot from a distance almost as long as a football field.
What’s it like to be a mother black bear in Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Where does she go for sleep and to have her cubs? And how does she care for them?
Well, her denning site is chosen with the coming of cold weather, and are usually hollow stumps, tree cavities (some high off the ground), ground dens, under fallen trees and roots.
Most dens are no warmer than the outside air because their entrances are open. Some “dens” are simply nests on the ground surface.
Bears do not truly hibernate, but enter long periods of sleep. They may leave the den for short periods if disturbed or during brief warming trends.
Newborn cubs are smaller, relative to their mother’s size, than the young of any other placental mammal. They are totally dependent on their mothers. Newborn cubs have little fur, weigh less than eight ounces at birth and can barely crawl. One to three cubs is the most common litter size and the cubs are born during the mother’s winter sleep, usually in late January or early February.
Females with newly born cubs usually emerge from their winter dens in late March or early April. Often born in pairs, the cubs will remain with the mother for about 18 months or until she mates again. Newborn cubs have mouths shaped for sucking, and milk is their only food. The cubs do not hibernate. They have full metabolism for maximum growth rate. They nurse frequently and for long periods, making a motor-like hum that seems to tell mothers not to change position because everything is good as is.
The mother’s metabolism is slightly reduced during the cold months, with a body temperature between 94 and 98 F, compared with approximately 100 F in summer. Her body temperature in the den is high enough for full mental function. She dozes when the cubs do, but responds to every cry when they are cold, hungry, or need to eliminate body wastes.
She keeps the cubs warm by hovering over them and breathing on them with her head tucked under her chest. Her hind and fore legs make furry walls. She helps the cubs find her six nipples. She licks them to stimulate defecation and eats the feces to recycle unabsorbed nutrients and keep the den clean.
It was an honor to watch the consistently loving and nurtruing care of this mother bear over a period of six weeks—for the cubs, ages three months to nine months.
