Today we have a video taken recently in which we see two-month-old Finnegan Bear exploring his surroundings – the pen in the Cub Nursery.  You will notice that he explores using his nose as his guide.  Bears have an incredible sense of smell, and use it for a multitude of tasks, particularly for finding their way around and finding food or mates. Finnegan sniffs his way around his pen.

Another thing to notice is that his back legs are still weaker than his front legs.  He uses his front legs to propel him, and the back legs are only just beginning to develop strength.  When bear cubs are born they have no strength in their back legs and use an “army crawl” to move toward their source of food, the mother bear’s  teats.  Because of the relative weakness of the back legs, Finnegan is a bit wobbly on his feet, but he’s getting stronger and will make rapid progress.

He shows his contentment after feeding by making the sound that is indicative of bear cub happiness – it is called “trilling” or a “pleasure hum.”  You can hear him make the sound as he lies among his stuffed companions.  Note also how he stretches his back legs out straight just like a baby sometimes does.  This is another way he strengthens his back legs.

Click here to see this three-minute slice of Finnegan’s life in the Cub Nursery.