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Old Grandpa Page 2 of 2
This reminded me of two incidents that also clearly illustrated the way in which bears are able to process scent information. One incident occurred two years before at Brooks Falls. We had been watching a mother with three cubs, and she had urinated before walking off towards the river shore. A short while later, another adult bear (I’m not sure the gender) happened upon the scene. The mother bear was still nearby, but out of view. The adult bear stooped his head down to sniff the spot of urine. He inhaled and inhaled, and suddenly, as if a cartoon light bulb had gone off in his head, he realized some vital information from the urine and took off running in the opposite direction of the mother at top speed. The other incident it reminded me of was a scene described in Charlie Russell’s book Grizzly Heart. Russell observed the two orphaned cubs he was raising in the wild in Siberia be chased by a predatory male that was stalking cubs in the area. The two cubs had ran for the lives, and narrowly escaped the adult bear by outrunning him long enough to reach a high, rock cliff where they were able to scramble to safety due to their smaller size. Later, after the predatory male was gone, Russell observed the two cubs relive the scene using their noses. The cubs went back to the place where the predatory male had jumped them, and they physically went over the chase scene with their noses, processing, learning from and reliving the event. When among the bears I try to be present with the fact that bears navigate the world with their nose. Their noses are estimated to be 100,000 times more sensitive than a human’s and I can only begin to imagine the information they are able to get from a scent. Old Grandpa reminded me of this, as he stooped his head low, scanning the footprints of this recent chase.
After satisfying his curiosity, Old Grandpa walked a short distance behind us. Once again, each step he took was slow, deliberate and looked painful. He started to lie down, and wincing, he moved in slow motion to the ground. He first dropped down onto his back knees, and then ever so carefully lowered one front leg at a time, until he released the full weight of his body into the sand. He rested his head on the ground, and I wanted to run up to him and pet his brow and give this poor achy soul some glucosamine and Rimadyl! He had such a calm, serene energy about him, and I felt so much compassion for this strong bear who must have a cunning, stellar intelligence to have survived 18, 19, 20 years without being hunted by disgusting men who try to murder the largest bear they can find. He was one of the tallest bears I’ve ever seen, and it was apparent from his frame that in his prime he must have been a true giant. Old Grandpa napped behind us while the other bears continued fishing with lots of success. I felt heartened that Old Grandpa seemed to still have his fishing chops and speed. But I also felt bad that he didn’t catch anything that night, and that he didn’t seem to have the stamina to stand in the water as long as the other bears. I felt really privileged to see, and to sit with, such an old bear in the last years of his life.
© 2008 Jessica Teel |
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