As Finnegan, our 3-month-old black bear cub gets older, he doesn’t spend quite so much time napping.  He is spending more time playing.  Play is very important to the growth and development of bear cubs.  If Finnegan were still with his mother, he would very likely play with litter mates or with his mom.  Because he is alone, he plays with his stuffed toys and even with the towels that the curators provide for his comfort.  A couple of days ago, The curator observed the little cub wrestling with his towel and playing with one of the toys, called Mother Bunny (the usual stuffed bear toys were being washed in the Cub Laundry)  The curator was able to photograph him through the window after the play session ended.

Finnegan just subdued the pink towel behind him.

He looks for something else to do.

It looks like he is thinking about what to do next. It also appears that he’s watching out of the corner of his eye

Out in Wild Enclosure #1, we see that Wily Bear and Tiny Tim Bear are sharing a tree.  The curators report that they don’t get any closer to each other than this.

Wily is the yearling on the lower branch; Tiny Tim is up high in the tree.

Later in the day, Curator Janet gave Finnegan a surprise.  While he was in one side of The Cub House, Janet cleaned the other side and added a couple of logs to the scene.  She was able to catch his reaction in this video, which is one of the best we’ve seen.  Do check it out – it is really cute!  Click here to see Finnegan as he discovers the new additions.