As the yearling bears get older and larger, it becomes harder to pick out the distinguishing characteristics that used to be obvious.  Therefore, it is harder to tell them apart.  As we have said before, the photos are taken “on the fly” as curators are feeding them by throwing food over the fencing into the Wild Enclosures.  There isn’t a lot of time for them to zero in on a particular bear whom they can recognize.  So, after taking many, many shots they download the images and try to pick out who is who.  Unless they are able to read the numbers on an ear tag, it’s very hard to tell which bear is which.  Today we have some identified bears and some that are not.  To put in perspective how difficult it is, Curator Greg took 72 images of bears, and there were only 11 of them who were identifiable!  The photos are good, all the same.  We hope you enjoy them, whether we can tell you who they are or not.

We will start with a few of the Wild Enclosure #1 yearlings that can be identified.

Linus Bear is getting bigger each day.

Beaufort Bear with open mouth. What is he telling us?

Flora Bear shows off her winter coat, decorated with pine chips.

Shelby Bear shows the results of good food. She has gained weight and that’s good for a bear!

One more view of Flora Bear .

A photo of Wild Enclosure #2 shows several of the yearlings.  The only one who could be identified is Derby Bear, our Kentucky yearling, who stands out because of his red ear tags.

Wild Enclosure #2, with Derby Bear pointed out.

Only one of the Wild Enclosure #3 bears could be identified.

Zellie Bear on the familiar stump. Seems that all the bears like it.

In Wild Enclosure #4 there were a couple of bears who could be recognized.

Cornelius Bear looks very relaxed.

Clarence Bear has an interesting pose in the tree.

The last two photos are of bears that are easily recognized.  They are still in pens apart from the Wild Enclosures, until they are ready to go out into one.

Cecilia Bear retreats to her platform, and huffs at the curator as if saying “Don’t come any closer.”

Little Skipper hides from the curator when his food is delivered.

Of the last two, Cecilia is showing that she is almost ready to go out into a Wild Enclosure, but Skipper is not showing signs of confinement stress, and since he is still so small he’s not quite ready for the Wild Enclosure yet.  His time will come.