Yearlings are way short of breeding age, which is at least 3 for females and even older for males. So it says in all the books by bear experts. Our precocious yearling Hartley hasn’t read the books, it seems. Although the three yearlings in Wild Enclosure #3 were definitely keeping to their separate areas, Hartley has suddenly decided that the two females who share the enclosure aren’t so bad, after all.

Notice that both females remain seated firmly on the ground, showing that they are not interested in more than “friendship and “conversation.”

In the Acclimation Pen for Wild Enclosure #2, yearling Iris Bear is blissfully unaware of the shenanigans in the other Wild Enclosure.

It is rather unusual for yearling bears to associate with each other. As we have stated in earlier posts, yearlings are on their own and used to living a solitary life. They do not socialize like the rambunctious cubs do. But every bear is an individual, so there is no hard and fast rule about their behavior.