Bonnie Blue is a wild bear!

In the picture above, Cub #202 (Bonnie Blue) is showing her best wild bear behavior.  Look at her little mouth, and you will see that she is blowing (called “huffing” when bears do it) just like a big bear.  Her legs are stiff, so she is undoubtedly practicing her “stiff-legged walk” and pawing the ground (in this case, the towel).  These are strategies that adult bears use to communicate to another bear or a human that they are too close.  It’s the bears’ way of saying “Back off!”

A little later, Bonnie Blue decided to practice climbing.  Bear cubs climb trees to escape from danger, on their mother’s command.  The climbing skill and desire to climb are hard wired into a cub from birth.  Bonnie Blue chose to develop her skill by climbing on the cage in the Cub Nursery.  It’s not as easy as a tree trunk would be, but as you can see in the sequence of pictures, she finally succeeds!

Bonnie Blue pulls herself up to begin her climb.

Notice that her brother, Ridgeway, doesn’t seem to be too impressed.  Girls rule!

Its not easy, but Bonnie Blue is persistent.

Ridgeway seems to wonder why she is bothering.

Bonnie Blue works hard and climbs a bit higher.

Looks like Ridgeway has decided to take a nap.

Success!

Activities like this help to develop and strengthen a cub’s muscles.  She will be ready to take on the trees when she and her brother are released into the Wild Enclosure!