Ontario's Bears
Very few of the images in the book were taken at landfills but I am not above photographing bears there. I have had the pleasure of visiting one in particular many times over the years thanks to my good friends the MacLeans. Working with these "dump" bears has provided me with many insights into their behaviour. I've studied their tracks, their scat, their gaits, their dominance, their attitude and their tolerance of people. I've learned a lot and the main lesson learned is that there is so much more to learn.
Big males such as Big Bruiser and Smiley are the most tolerant around people. They seem to know that humans are not a threat. However when the landfill manager shows up to chase them away they readily identify him or her and leave. The big males are also the ones I was least likely to see. They were the dominant animals and they chose to feed when it was best for them to do so. That usually meant when there were fewer people around. However there was one August when they were a common sight because of a drought in the area and the resulting berry crop failure.
Young males and injured males (like Floppy) were the ones most likely to be seen. Followed by three-year olds, then the occasional single sow and finally sows with young cubs in tow.
Identifying the bears could be a challenge. Look at the 18 bears below. Can you pick out identifying features that would allow you to identify them next week, next year, five years from now? Some like Vee have distinctive markings. Blackie is very black all over but even so identifying him next year can get tricky. What if there was another all black bear? Wildlife ethologists need to be able to recognize their study animals. In Africa they have painted zebras different colours to help them i.d. them. Elephant seals had numbers shaved in their hide, other species were marked with a dye or given bright coloured collars. Some got ear tags. But this is intrusive. Photography is often used to help i.d. animals such as humpback whales, lions, tigers, wolves and many other species. At the Riverwood Conservancy I've volunteered to develop a photo data base of our deer and the University of Toronto, Mississauga is now testing out a photo idea program for deer. An exercise teachers could have students do is to try and develop a sheet that could be used to identify individual bears. Some suggestions: amount of black on the face, distinctive markings or scars, ear notches... and so on.
Slide show of some of Ontario's Black Bears
Very few of the images in the book were taken at landfills but I am not above photographing bears there. I have had the pleasure of visiting one in particular many times over the years thanks to my good friends the MacLeans. Working with these "dump" bears has provided me with many insights into their behaviour. I've studied their tracks, their scat, their gaits, their dominance, their attitude and their tolerance of people. I've learned a lot and the main lesson learned is that there is so much more to learn.
Big males such as Big Bruiser and Smiley are the most tolerant around people. They seem to know that humans are not a threat. However when the landfill manager shows up to chase them away they readily identify him or her and leave. The big males are also the ones I was least likely to see. They were the dominant animals and they chose to feed when it was best for them to do so. That usually meant when there were fewer people around. However there was one August when they were a common sight because of a drought in the area and the resulting berry crop failure.
Young males and injured males (like Floppy) were the ones most likely to be seen. Followed by three-year olds, then the occasional single sow and finally sows with young cubs in tow.
Identifying the bears could be a challenge. Look at the 18 bears below. Can you pick out identifying features that would allow you to identify them next week, next year, five years from now? Some like Vee have distinctive markings. Blackie is very black all over but even so identifying him next year can get tricky. What if there was another all black bear? Wildlife ethologists need to be able to recognize their study animals. In Africa they have painted zebras different colours to help them i.d. them. Elephant seals had numbers shaved in their hide, other species were marked with a dye or given bright coloured collars. Some got ear tags. But this is intrusive. Photography is often used to help i.d. animals such as humpback whales, lions, tigers, wolves and many other species. At the Riverwood Conservancy I've volunteered to develop a photo data base of our deer and the University of Toronto, Mississauga is now testing out a photo idea program for deer. An exercise teachers could have students do is to try and develop a sheet that could be used to identify individual bears. Some suggestions: amount of black on the face, distinctive markings or scars, ear notches... and so on.
Slide show of some of Ontario's Black Bears