We promised to post more about the tiny little bear cub (#333 – Hops Bear) who arrived at ABR just yesterday. After his checkup at UTCVM he was introduced to the ABR Cub Nursery. He spent his first night there, and it was a busy night for Curator Quanah, who had night duty.
Hops is a very small cub. He’s about two and one-half months old, but due to his extra small size we would guess that he was born later than some of the other little cubs we’ve seen this year.
In fact, here is a photo taken when he was being transferred to a transport carrier for his trip to the vets at UT.
His size, in comparison to the curators and the truck, really shows how small he is!The first thing he did in The Cub Nursery was to sleep. He was exhausted after his ordeal.Curator Quanah feeds Hops every three hours, on bear milk replacement formula that has been diluted so as not to overwhelm his digestive system.In between his feedings, he sleeps soundly.When he wakes up, he lets the world know that he is hungry. He has a good set of lungs and a LOUD voice!Feedings continue through the night. After he finishes his bottle, Quanah cleans him and his pen.She puts Hops back into his clean pen to go back to sleep.
And so it goes. Another curator will take over when Quanah is through, and the feedings will continue every three hours around the clock. Baby bears, especially when they are this small, are very demanding! Stay tuned to see how he fares going forward.
