Tag Archives: Grizzly Bears

This is a grizzly bear destined to have a good hibernation. However according to the Natural History Museum grizzlies that live in climates with cold winters when food sources are limited spend the winter in a dormant or sleeping state.  This “sleeping period” is often referred to as “hibernation”, but it differs from true hibernation in several ways:
    –  In true hibernation, an animal’s body temperature drops to a few degrees above freezing and if disturbed it takes a couple of hours to wake up
    –  Although a sleeping Grizzly Bear’s body temperature is lower than normal, it is not as low as true hibernators and its respiration rate is only slightly below normal. During winter sleep, bears are alert and easily aroused.

The picture of the grizzly bear viewed in yesterday’s post was taken on July 13th and today’s was August 27th. The common denominator is both bears have very long looking legs because of the absence of the fat winter belly. The first bear has been grazing on sedge grass and turning over rocks for protein. This is a subsistence diet and not much weight gain for this bear. The second grizzly bear and cub have just started to fish for the salmon on the upper river and have not had a chance to put on the necessary bulk for hibernation. If you take time to check out the previous posts on June 4th and 8th you will see bears near the end of the season that have had time to add the necessary layers of fat to survive the winter. Or wait for tomorrows post and see a fat bear!!

A different set of siblings than yesterday’s post but still playing.  These two are later in the fall up the river below the viewing platform near the intake to the spewing channel. In this case they are tired of catching and eating the salmon that are here to spawn and taking a break to play fight. It was not serious because there are so many salmon and we had watched these two filling up on salmon for over an hour so no need to fight over the best fishing spot. The abundance of salmon is shown in the fact that the bears in the Glendale River are not scared nor do they shown open wounds as the bears from many of the rivers in Northern BC and Alaska.

A rising tide in Knight Inlet’s Glendale River estuary provides an opportunity for sibling grizzly bears to play. After leaving their mother juvenile bears may spend two of three years together until they reach sexual maturity at age six or seven. This is a break from spending the morning turning over rocks and looking for protein rich food now that the tide has risen…. more tomorrow

The grizzlies in our grizzly bear viewing area tend to avoid eye contact as it is seen as a challenge. In this case the eye contact on the part of the bear is a challenge in that we were to close. We were in the skiff on the river and this grizzly appeared suddenly out of the bush onto the grassy estuary and started walking toward the boat. It took a few minutes for us to drift down the river past the bear as were unable to go up river because of the low tide. The bear paused as we went by and we made sure not to stare directly at the bear.

This is the case when a three-year-old grizzly bear cub is being told that it is time to be on your own and not to keep following mother. Cubs generally stay with their mother for two years, although they will stay for three or four if the sow does not become pregnant in the fall of their second year. Pregnancy triggers a reaction in the sow through which she drives the cubs off and hibernates on her own in preparation for giving birth to new cubs the following spring.

A beautiful mid-September day at the viewing stands made more beautiful by the sight of a large grizzly bear walking the causeway. After August 24th most grizzly bear watching from the lodge takes place on the Glendale River. This river is an hour and quarter boat ride and a fifteen-minute van ride from the lodge on Minstrel Island. There are two viewing platforms on a finger of land (causeway) that separate the natural river from the in-take to the man made spawning channel. The last kilometer (mile) to the viewing stands passes along the edge of the spawning channel and is a common walkway for the grizzlies. Why walk through the thick bush when it is easier to walk a road. This also applies between the viewing stands why walk in the water and disturb the salmon and other bears when the road is dry and bears are not protesting their fishing rights.

Our first grizzly bear tours in late May and early June grizzlies are often viewed along the shore before we arrive at Glendale River estuary the normal viewing area. The cubs that are born in the den in January or February are too young to be taken to the estuary where there may be mature male grizzlies. These small bays are referred to as nurseries and it gives the cubs time to grow on mother’s milk, which is more than 30% fat. They also become accustomed to the presence of boats and learn to ignore us from their mothers.