Yes, it’s true, no photos yet. I’m still in bed, but wanted to follow-up to my last post. I hope that people “get” what’s going on for Yona and the other bears. I assume some people would think Yona would be thrilled and the other bears would welcome her with open arms. Some elaboration to explain what’s going on. Yona grew up being bottle fed by the same person and then living in the same exhibit at ABR with otherRead more
Posts tagged: #Gus
Bears & Watermelon
Some photos of our bears when we toss watermelons in the pool. It happens like this: Bear comes over to pool and tries to get watermelon without getting in the water. Many attempts made to reach watermelon with paws. Gus in particular seems to not want to go in the water too much. Give up and head into water. Use paws to stabilize watermelon enough to get a good bite. Once watermelon is secure in teeth, paddle to shore. ArriveRead more
EnrichBits: Training
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Kristen doing some operant conditioning with the ringtail lemurs Marilyn mentioned operant conditioning in her latest post about Gus the Bear, so I wanted to explain it a bit further. You can click here for a technical definition of operant conditioning, but it can really be summed up with one word: “training”. Training is the final big area of all those important enrichment categories (remember?…exhibit design, olfactory, visual, auditory, tactile, social, novel objects,Read more
Creature Feature: Gus the black bear
Our bears are some of the most entertaining animals to watch here at the museum. Gus is our only male bear, and he has some funny antics that make the keepers laugh on a regular basis. Even though he is the youngest bear, at only 3 years old, he is already the dominant bear in the enclosure! Since black bears are naturally solitary animals, they have to form a heirarchy in order for them to co-exist with one another. ItRead more