Hops – and Wild Enclosure Work

Posted on   April 24, 2021
Comments are off
Category  :  Bear Feature Stories & Photos

We start out with a Happy Birthday wish for Hops Bear, who had his 3-month birthday on April 22nd.

Each month a bear cub survives is special. We wish Hops a happy 3-month birthday, and wish a happy birthday to all our former cubs and yearlings.

Hops is doing well. He is getting stronger and the curators are sure that he will soon catch on to the weaning bowl and will no longer need the bottle.

Three months old! Hops Bear is looking good.
The little cub checks out the weaning bowl. He’s clearly interested in it.
Proof of his interest – his paw prints show that he was actually in the bowl.
Hops sleeps on his stuffed animal.

We have showed some of the work the curators have done in the Wild Enclosures. Here we present some other evidence of their work. The enclosures will be ready when there are cubs outside.

Here are the results of the tilling and burning that was done a month ago. Seeds that had been long buried in the compacted ground have now begun to sprout.
Vertical Den improved by wrapping with firehose.
The curators think that the firehose wrap will be stronger than the old version with wood slats.
Thinking how much the bears like to attack a sapling, the curators fashioned some springy trees!
Here is a diagram of the springy tree design. Pretty clever, we think! Those curators are always coming up with new ideas!

We (and the curators) are waiting to see Hops Bear start to use his weaning bowl. And in a few months we’ll get to see the inventiveness of the curators put to the test, as little cubs use the constructions. Stay tuned.