Nimbus update

Thought you guys might like an update about Nimbus, our farmyard rabbit, who is still hanging out in the building (further explanation). She has up days and down days, and we plan to keep her inside for the winter, and possibly permanently. We are assessing her daily quality of life by watching how much she eats, if her feces look normal, and how she’s sitting most of the day–legs under her or splayed out. We also try to notice ifRead more

Yona Photos!

I finally got some photos to share with you. That’s my bear with Yona (his name is big bear and I got him about 37 years ago when I could barley get my arms around him). We’re hoping he provides companionship until Yona can go with our real bears. I went in with Yona to get these photos- she did eventually let me rub her belly. She wanted to “hug” me, which is what Lisa from ABR said Yona didRead more

Yona Update: Day 1

Sorry, no photos, just a few words. A difficult first day for sure. Yona had dumped all her water and ripped apart the automatic waterer (a favorite activity of all the bears) and the water bucket. She was hesitant to go into the holding yard. Once there, she paced a bunch. She seemed uninterested in food. After about 30 minutes of the same, I left her, recalling Virginia Bear’s first difficult days of pacing and apparent dissatisfaction. It made meRead more
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Big Word of the Month: Imprinting

The big word of the month should be procrastination since I’m a little late with this post! Instead I’m inspired to talk about the process of imprinting since Sherry alluded to it in her post about our new bear.In animal species with extended parental care, offspring usually learn to recognize their parents very soon after birth (the process sometimes begins even before birth). This process, called imprinting, varies from species to species but usually includes learning a combination of sight,Read more