Last week in Big Bend National Park (in SW Texas) I saw a female black bear with 4 cubs. The entire family were climbing around in an oak tree munching acorns. Doing a bit of research later, I learned that black bears are known to have from 1 to 5 cubs, and the most typical number is 3.

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: Will Markey
To: alyssasampson at comcast.net
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 1:21 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Alazing Black Bear photos


I got this e-mail from a non-tweeter friend. It isn't a bird, but I found it very interesting anyway. I would never have thought that a bear could birth, let alone successfully raise, 5 cubs without loosing even one. I wonder if maybe they all aren't hers. Possibly she "inherited" a few from another sow that died?

I hope the photos come through!

Will Markey
Auburn




Beautiful photos!

This guy submits photos and articles for a newspaper here called "North Country News" he always has beautiful photographs but these are Magnificent !





THE BEARS AND I





Black bears typically have two cubs, rarely one or three. In 2007, in northern?New Hampshire, a black bear sow gave birth to five healthy young. There were two or three reports of sows with as many as four cubs but five was, and is, extraordinary. I learned of them shortly after they emerged from their den and set myself a goal of photographing all five cubs with their mom, no matter how much time and effort was involved. I knew the trail they followed on a fairly regular basis, usually shortly before dark. After spending nearly four hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks I had that once in a lifetime opportunity and photographed them in the shadows and dull lighting of the evening. Due to these conditions the photograph is a bit noisy as I had to use the equivalent of a very fast film speed on my digital camera. The print is properly focused and well exposed with all six bears posing as if they were in a studio for a family portrait. ?





I stayed in touch with other people who saw the bears during the summer and into the fall hunting season. All six bears continued to thrive. As time for hibernation approached, I found still more folks who had seen them and everything remained OK. I stayed away from the bears as I was concerned that they might become habituated to me, or to people in general, as approachable friends. This could be dangerous for both man and animal. After Halloween I received no further reports and could only hope the bears survived until they hibernated.?





This spring, before the snow disappeared, all six bears came out of their den and wandered the same familiar territory they trekked in the spring of 2007. I saw them before mid April and dreamed nightly of taking another family portrait, an improbable second once in a lifetime photograph. On April 25, 2008 I achieved my dream. When I showed the result to a woman who had purchased a print of the cubs a year earlier she exclaimed, I have never seen such an extraordinary photograph. When something as magical as this happens between man and animal Native Americans say: We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow. And so it is with humility and great pleasure that I share these photos with you.?





Sincerely, Tom Sears





?





Above 2008 Family Portrait - Below 2007 Family Portrait!

Same Bear Family Of Six!














----- End forwarded message -----
Will Markey


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