A Bit About Bears

Today I read a few articles about bears in Glacier National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone National Park via the Great Falls Tribune and I thought I would share them with you.

Study to research effect of climate change on denning

The short synopsis of this one is that the U.S. Geological Survey will study if the warmer temperatures caused by global warming are affecting when the bears go into hibernation for the winter.

Where are all the grizzly bears?

In this case, the wintry conditions in both parks are perhaps causing the bears to linger inside of their lairs a bit longer. As the days get longer and the temperatures warm up, they'll leave their dens. For some however, the departure from their dens may be as late as mid to late May.

Black bear season opens April 15

The last article is more of the reality situation of nature talking about the beginning of the hunting season for black bears. It's not my kind of activity, but there you go. Grizzly bears, conversely, are under protected status and, therefore, cannot be hunted.

All this talk of hibernation just makes me sleepy and especially on a day in Seattle where the skies are relatively gray compared with last week and it's wet...again. It also reminds me of the sweet scene from the Disney film where Flower the Skunk asks Bambi, "Is it spring yet?" Nope, not quite yet.



A bit more on bears can be found on the detailed Wikipedia page - Bears.