One COY (cub-of-the-year) and two yearlings. That is the current population of ABR, However, the cub is Bits Bear, who is spending some time in the ICU at UTCVM.
He seems to be holding his own, which is a big deal for a tiny neonate who may be hardly more than a week old!
In addition to being bottle fed, he must be burped like a baby and stimulated to defecate and urinate. A mother bear would lick him to stimulate these actions, but human caretakers use a warm, damp cloth.
Doesn’t he look dapper in his white collar! It identifies him as being one of our little bears.
Bits will remain in the ICU for a few days. As soon as wildlife officers are able to do den checks on prospective females, they will try to find a foster mother for Bits.
The two yearlings,Twinkle and Tinsel Bear are residing in Enclosures #3 and 4. They have a somewhat prickly relationship, in that they don’t play or generally sleep together. But despite this, they are usually in the same enclosure, indicating that they don’t need THAT much distance from one another.
The curators thought that giving them access to both enclosures would allow them to maintain their apparent need for privacy.
You’d think so, as Tinsel moved into her old den and wouldn’t let Twinkle come in (if she wanted to).
Tinsel came out to be sure that Twinkle moved on.
Then Tinsel came out again and found a nice apple,
Chomp! She took a big bite.
She turned and took the apple back inside her den.
These two girls are behaving quite differently from other cubs we have watched. Just goes to prove that all bears are individuals with their own personalities and quirks.
are individuals with their own personalities and quirks!