The most recent arrivals at Appalachian Bear Rescue are the triplet cubs – #211 (Pansy Bear), her sister #212 (Petal Bear), and their brother #213 (Peanut Bear).  They were released into the Wild Enclosure that housed Cub #209 (Juliette Bear) and her sister #210 (Summer Bear).  Juliette and Summer had only been there a couple of days when the “Three P’s” arrived.  As far as we know, the two sets of siblings have not interacted, since each set has chosen a tree in which to spend their time.  As we have said, bear cubs are most comfortable in trees and feel safest there.  They only come down to forage for the food that the curators toss over the fence for them to find.

Pansy, Petal and Peanut selected a very large white oak tree and have been hanging out there.  Here are some photos of the little cubs in the big tree.

Small cub in big tree!

White oak trees produce the acorns that black bears favor.  These acorns are sweeter, and have less of the tannins that make other varieties of acorn bitter-tasting.

Their tree is a good place to snooze.

One of the cubs wakes up.

One cub is awake.

These photos were the two female cubs, Pansy and Petal.  It is hard to tell them apart from a distance.  Their brother Peanut had his own perch, higher up in the tree.  It looks a bit precarious to us, but bear cubs have amazing balance and he slept contentedly, sitting on the branch.

Peanut snoozes up high in the tree.