As we have mentioned before, Bonnie Blue (Cub #202) seems to “rule the pen” and asserts dominance over the two male cubs.  However, Curator Coy reports that the boys are getting stronger, and it may be only a matter of time until they take her on.  We’ll be interested to see what happens in the weeks to come, and especially after they are released into the Wild Enclosure, which is a much larger area with more room to spread out and avoid each other.  These photos show the cubs in various stages of getting along together.

Bonnie Blue looks sweet, but she is a tough little cub.

Three cubs at peace.

All three cubs like to be up high on their climbing apparatus.  As we have pointed out, bear cubs feel safest when they are up high.  It is likely that the mothers of these cubs were teaching them to climb up a tree for safety, and the lesson was well-learned, even though they were so young.  In this picture, Bonnie Blue is on the left, Ridgeway is in the middle, and Marvin is on the right.  Marvin seems to prefer to be at the top of the climbing structure, where he is not too close to his nemesis, Bonnie Blue.

When they aren’t quarreling, they relax up high.

Bonnie Blue, Ridgeway, and Marvin.

Wonder why Marvin has his tongue out like that!  Bears do have very long tongues, the better to scoop up tasty ants and other insects.  We are quite sure that Marvin is not showing the human trait of sticking out the tongue in displeasure!