I think I first met Floppy in 2000. (By the way Floppy is my name for this bear. I am sure the local cottagers know him by other names.)
In 2006 his jaw was freshly broken and that became his identifying feature. I may well have photographed him a few years before when he was uninjured. I think I have pictures of him dating to 2000 when he was a three year old male. As far as I know he died in 2017 at the age of around 20. I have not seen him since then.
For most of his life he lived with his handicap and he prospered. (For more see pg. 17 in my book: Black Bears A Natural History)
Floppy is not the only bear that I've seen with this affliction. I photographed a brown black bear in Glacier N.P. Montana in 2005 and was saddened to think that it would not survive. Now I wonder if it too overcame its injury. You do not see a lot of injured animals in the wild because most of them fall victim to their injuries or are selected by predators as easy prey. I recall only one or two zebras whose "striped did not line up", a few animals with broken legs (surely they did not make it) and a badly lacerated pronghorn. I don't count scars on males as severe injuries, Every male lion which has a pride has scars from battles with other males. The same is true of most male bears.
Life in the wild is tough and only the tough survive. But nature and evolution have somehow made species capable of surviving challenges. Severe wounds can heal. The body adapts to permanent injury.
Floppy survived in part because when it was proposed back in 2006 or 7 to put the injured bear down the cottagers protested. Floppy was a regular visitor to the landfill site and had always behaved himself. Their intervention saved his life. But this large male bear still had to negotiate the distance from the landfill to wherever he spent the bulk of his year. In September that meant running the gauntlet of hunters. How he did this no one really knows but he managed it. In fact my research into this (personal and anecdotal) seems to show that older bears who survived their formative years usually do live long lives. Most bears die young as do the offspring of most species. This statement can be applied to most species from cottontail rabbits to bald eagles.
Update: I was delighted to see Floppy was alive and well in 2022. I'd been told that he had died the year before.
Slide show: Floppy through years.
In 2006 his jaw was freshly broken and that became his identifying feature. I may well have photographed him a few years before when he was uninjured. I think I have pictures of him dating to 2000 when he was a three year old male. As far as I know he died in 2017 at the age of around 20. I have not seen him since then.
For most of his life he lived with his handicap and he prospered. (For more see pg. 17 in my book: Black Bears A Natural History)
Floppy is not the only bear that I've seen with this affliction. I photographed a brown black bear in Glacier N.P. Montana in 2005 and was saddened to think that it would not survive. Now I wonder if it too overcame its injury. You do not see a lot of injured animals in the wild because most of them fall victim to their injuries or are selected by predators as easy prey. I recall only one or two zebras whose "striped did not line up", a few animals with broken legs (surely they did not make it) and a badly lacerated pronghorn. I don't count scars on males as severe injuries, Every male lion which has a pride has scars from battles with other males. The same is true of most male bears.
Life in the wild is tough and only the tough survive. But nature and evolution have somehow made species capable of surviving challenges. Severe wounds can heal. The body adapts to permanent injury.
Floppy survived in part because when it was proposed back in 2006 or 7 to put the injured bear down the cottagers protested. Floppy was a regular visitor to the landfill site and had always behaved himself. Their intervention saved his life. But this large male bear still had to negotiate the distance from the landfill to wherever he spent the bulk of his year. In September that meant running the gauntlet of hunters. How he did this no one really knows but he managed it. In fact my research into this (personal and anecdotal) seems to show that older bears who survived their formative years usually do live long lives. Most bears die young as do the offspring of most species. This statement can be applied to most species from cottontail rabbits to bald eagles.
Update: I was delighted to see Floppy was alive and well in 2022. I'd been told that he had died the year before.
Slide show: Floppy through years.