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King Page 3 of 3
Several days since first meeting King I find myself sitting on the beach alone out front of camp. I’m writing in my journal and since it is low tide I’m able to watch several bears clamming on the mud flats. Two grizzly bear females, "the twins" are out clamming. I don’t know if they are twins, but they look almost identical (except one is a bit thinner). They both have puffy, perfectly round butts, and side by side – nose down in the mud sniffing for clams, they look like two scoops of ice cream. I find it curious that they always seem to always pal around together, considering they are full grown females and it is mating season. Frequently we see sub adults in small groups of two or even three. It is fairly common for siblings to stick together for several years after leaving their mother. But these bears looked clearly full grown. Perhaps, as I’ve suspected, there is a lot more social behavior going on amongst these highly individualized bears. Here were two adult female siblings that for one reason or another chose to stick together into adulthood. Maybe, like Queen and Carol, they would even raise their cubs together? Suddenly, the twins go running off the mud flats. Looking frantically over their shoulders, they barrel off to the right and towards the beach. I look left and see what has spooked them. It’s none other than King, smiling of course, and lumbering diligently behind another female who is walking out onto the mud flats. Walking patiently behind her, King follows her slow gait towards the sea. Realizing it’s King, and that he only has eyes for this particular female at this point, I guess that the twins have unduly panicked. A few minutes later they decide it is safe, and make their way back to where they had been clamming.
The female grizzly that King is following seems to be leading him on a wild goose chase. She walks all the way out to the water’s edge, which is quite far away since it is low tide. Either trying to test him, or to shake him, she wades out into the surf, trudging through the increasingly deepening water. King isn’t deterred and doesn’t mind getting wet. He keeps on following her as if being led on a string. Still walking in the water, she veers inland and heads towards where the twins are clamming. As the female and King approach the twins get scared and scamper off back to the beach. They sit and stare at the couple, waiting until it’s safe to go back out onto the flats.
The next morning we head back from the far meadows towards our camp. We are taking the grizzly bear trail that cuts through the meadow, and are pleasantly surprised to see two bears on the berm close to camp. As we get closer to the two dark brown bears we realize its King following yet another female. This female is one of the few grizzly bear females we’ve seen this trip that isn’t extremely blond colored. She is also a real beauty, with a sweet, defined face, and a long muzzle. She’s just gorgeous, I think, as she bites off the tips of the wild celery stalks and munches the thin leaves with her lips. King is doing the usual – watching her and waiting. He takes a few polite bites of grass, and then settles down to sit and stare at her. His mouth is open half way as he breathes. I don’t know if he’s just hot and panting, but he always looks so darn happy with that big grin! His teeth are even showing as he “laughs” this morning, squinting up into the sun.
We settle down with them in the tall grass to watch the bears from a distance. The female continues to eat steadily, occasionally glancing King’s way. King sits down and waits, and waits, and waits. We don’t have his patience, and eventually get up to make our way back to camp, and to lunch. For the entire week we see King following around different female bears. Each time he appears to be a calm, collected, patient stalker. We fail to see him actually mate with a female, but I’m sure he found some success without an audience of humans.
© 2008 Jessica Teel |
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