Tundra's Near Escape

If you have been following the blog then you have heard about Tundra. She is a four and a half subadult that has quickly become one of my favorite bears. She has been trying to find herself in the bear world and that includes finding a mate. There is a handsome subadult now that is been following her around for a few days. The day started out by watching the two of them trying to figure out the mating process. The male was quite pushy but Tundra was holding her ground. Then the two of them would play and chase each other. Then back to figuring out the sex, Tundra layed down on her back with all four legs in the air. The male stood over her and you could tell that he knew something wasn't right. But Tundra grabbed him and pulled him down and the two of them rolled around on the ground. Then they growled and nipped at each other. Tundra got up and ran a short distance away then stopped and waited for her friend. They tried again. This time they got the position right but Tundra was impatient and swatted the male off with her big front paws. This went on most of the morning in various places around camp.

Later that day I happened to be on the beach when I noticed two bears running towards me but at a fair distance away with a third and bigger bear following behind them. The first bear running was Tundra with her new found mate close behind. I notified my partner about the activities and she was located farther down the beach then I was. Both of us were keeping eyes on the three bears. The beach was their domain but we didn't want them to get chased through camp. Tundra tried to enter the camp between me and my partner. Together we got her back down on the beach but her mate had ran behind my partner and was wondering around the restroom area of camp. The two of us split up, I followed Tundra and she worked on getting her mate through camp. Both of us hoping that the third bear was not going to follow them into camp.

I finally got Tundra around the camp and into the marsh by the river. My partner had chased the other subadult out of camp only to have him circle around and enter camp another direction. Again she chased him into the woods. The third bear walked down the beach and headed up river straight to poor Tundra who made a quick dash back towards camp. The third bear was not paying any attention to Tundra and she finally realized that and slowed down. She waddled around the edge of camp and made her way to the beach. By this time the third bear was out of sight up the river. Tundra was sniffing around trying to find her mate.

What she found was a dead carcass of a fish. She carried the fish to a place in the grass and started to feast on the fish. Her mate had some how managed to get himself back to the beach. He was searching for Tundra. If Tundra knew he was there she was not making any attempt to join him until the fish was devoured. Once her belly was full of dead fish she stood up and our two love bears met up once again and headed on thier way into the woods.

It is unusual for a bear as young as Tundra to mate. The chances of her having success raising cubs at this age is fairly slim. But we won't know anything until next spring when she comes out of her den.