Finn

Cubs. . .Eating, Of Course!

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It seems that the cubs are entering hyperphagia, that period of intense eating that will prepare them for their “fast” during the winter.  Adult bears can eat as much as 20,000 calories a day during hyperphagia! Of course our cubs will not eat that much, but for their size and age they will definitely increase their food intake and challenge the curators to provide enough food for them. We have photos of the little bears chowing down.  There will be even more of these eating pictures in days to come, as it seems that this is all they do.  Since the curators take the photos when they go down to the enclosure to throw the food over the fence, and since they are not there at other times during the day, it will really seem that the cubs do nothing but eat!

Finn

Here is a profile shot of the handsome Finnegan Bear.

Finn and Eliza

Finnegan and Eliza – what a difference in their sizes!

The cubs have different stories that account for their size differences, since all three of them are the same age.  Eliza and her brother Andy were with their mother for the first five months of life.  While she was doing a very good job of finding food in the wild, they didn’t have the super-nutritious type of food that Finnegan Bear received at ABR during those months.  Therefore, Finn is much larger than the siblings.  It has been said that Finn looks like a buffalo next to the smaller Eliza.

Andy

Andy Bear is the middle-sized cub. He’s smaller than Finnegan but larger than his sister.

Often the cubs prefer to stay hidden and eat in the shade.  In the next photo, we’re betting you would hardly know they were there if it weren’t for those bright arrows.

Hiding cubs

Cubs in hiding. This is a good way for them to be safe.

All three of the cubs are very healthy, whether they are the largest or the smallest.  It will be interesting to see how much they weigh at their release, after “pigging out” during hyperphagia.