New Beginnings
A January snow covers the forest floor in the Smokies. The cold wind spits sleet and more snow and shoves the 200-year-old yellow birch back and forth. But in the heart of the birch, 50 feet above ground in a clawed-out, leaf-lined den, a female black bear is giving birth to two tiny cubs. “They’re about the size of a coke can when they’re born,” says Bill Stiver, supervisory biologist at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Mom turns her back to the cold wind and nurses her cubs. It’s a scenario every new mother knows: In the beginning, the 10-ounce cubs nurse every 10 minutes or so. Mom cuddles them closely, especially in the beginning because they are born hairless. The cubs will be covered in fur in about six weeks, but until then they only have Mom and her milk for warmth.
Mama bear doesn’t have it any better than most mothers. She sleeps when she can but spends most of her time and energy taking care of her new babies. According to Stiver, Mom emerges from her den about three months later, in April—new furballs in tow to greet the Appalachian spring.
Mama bears in the Smokies
- Stiver notes that females generally have a smaller home range than males. If food is plentiful, a female is often content with a home range of two square miles or less. When food is lacking they may travel miles searching for a meal, but when it’s time to den they generally return to their home range, some even returning to the same den site.
- Females, especially pregnant ones, generally den early in the Smokies—by late November, early December—and they search out secure den sites.
- Bears in the Smokies, especially females, are known for denning in tree cavities, often high above the ground.
- Bears don’t have collarbones, so if they can get their head through a cavity opening they can get inside.
- The female bear’s milk is metabolized directly from her body fat and is twice as high in calories as a human mom’s milk. This is good for the cub but draining on the mom as she may lose as much as half a pound a day in body weight by converting fat to milk.
- The average lifespan of a mama bear in the Smokies is seven to eight years. The oldest female recorded by University of Tennessee was 27.
As you take to the trails in the Smokies, remember: There’s been a bear before you, and there will be a bear behind you.
About the author: Don Hendershot is a naturalist in Waynesville, North Carolina.