Quality Time with Bear Cubs

One of the highlights of photographing black bears at the American Bear Association was watching the bear cubs.

Silent Song

Silent Song 16x 20” oil ©2018 Susan McDonnell Private collection

Sometimes black bears are brown and on rare occasions blonde. The cub in the above painting was the only brown bear cub I saw on my visits. She had two siblings.

I watched the three cubs playing for about an hour. Most of the time they were in constant motion but every so often they would stop and make an expression like the cub in the painting.

It looked like sound should be coming out of their mouths but I never heard any of the cubs call out. This inspired the title.

Female Black Bears

Black bear cubs are born in January or February and stay with mom for about a year and a half and then they are on their own.

The year after I saw the bear cub in the painting above I saw this yearling (below) in the same area. She was the size of a large Labrador Retriever.

I feel confident this is the same bear as the cub in the painting above. I know she is female because female black bears have a wisp of hair visible under their tale.

©2018 Susan McDonnell

While I was happy to see the brown cub nearly grown I was a little sad because she was alone. I know, I’m projecting. Black bears are largely solitary so even her siblings were nowhere to be seen.

July 2, 2022