Our curator was able to get some good photos of the cubs as they played and interacted in the Wild Enclosure the other day.  Although, with the exception of #199-Bucky and his sister #200-Cee Cee, they are not related, you wouldn’t know it to watch them.  We have seen this before – that unrelated cubs this young settle into a “family” relationship as they live together.  You may wonder if it will be lonely for them, when they are released back into the wild later in the year.  But the nature of black bears is to live a solo life, except for a mother and her cubs from their birth until “family breakup,” when she disperses them (usually when they are about 16 months old).  So it won’t be traumatic for the cubs to go their separate ways when released.

Here is a collection of images of the cubs interacting and foraging.

A cub stretches out on the log.  Might be insects there.

Sure enough, it seems that the cub is finding insects, while another cub isn’t interested.

Here comes a cub, sniffing out food.

Something tasty to eat here.

Closeup of another munching cub.

Must have been tasty – the cub seems to be smiling!

Moving on to find some other tempting treats.