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Patricia Page 2 of 2
We followed slowly behind Patricia and her cubs as they headed onto the beach. It was low tide and Patricia headed out onto the mud flats, the ocean floor exposed by an Alaskan low tidal system that is one of the most extreme in the world. She began clamming and we observed how quickly she was able to dig up these tasty bites of meat.
Like all the bears we’ve observed clamming, Patricia would search for the clams using her nose. Pressing her snout against the compacted sand she walked slowly, her nose hovering above the ground like a metal detector searching for jewelry in the sand. When she smelled a clam she would quickly gouge out a huge hole in the sand using one of her front paws. With the clam exposed, Patricia grabbed it in her teeth, pulled it out of the hole, and commenced to prying it open using her jaws and the nails of her front paw. Leaving a trail of holes behind her, Patricia worked her way slowly across the mud flats.
The cubs followed one hole behind their mother. They would stop at the hole, sniff, and dig – miniature versions of mom in the process of clamming- the main difference being they could fit inside a hole that was the size of only one of their mother’s paws. One cub leaned his face down into the depths of one hole, his round, fuzzy butt sticking up in the air while he investigated. Both cubs were most interested in the clam shells left behind, and we could see that they were chewing out pieces of meat from the shells. We wondered if Patricia was purposefully leaving part of the clam in the shell for the cubs to discover on their own. They were visibly eating something in addition to gnawing and sucking on the shells. Either mom was leaving behind pieces of clam itself, or they were able to nibble off those pieces of muscle that seem to adhere to the shell once a clam has been taken out. In any case, it was obviously a good way to get the cubs interested in learning the art of clamming.
It was uncanny how accurately they imitated their mother. The cubs would pause at the hole she had dug, thoroughly sniff the area, and then start digging with a front paw. They would then work on the clam shells, chewing on tiny pieces of meat. One of the cubs decided that she needed a closer view of the action, and started hanging out between Patricia’s legs. Shadowing her every move, he hovered underneath Patricia’s face as she sniffed, dug, pried apart clam shells, and ate. Learning was definitely taking place and this cub had a front seat in clam class.
We let Patricia and the cubs wander farther and farther away, deciding to let them move on without the company of an audience. But we did examine Patricia’s clam holes, looking for clues about her clamming techniques. We discovered that next to almost every hole was one intact half of the clam shell with the other half broken into 2 or 3 pieces. It appears that she pries open the top of the clam, breaking it in the process, while the bottom stays in tact and most likely still adhering to the clam itself, which is then scooped out and eaten with either her teeth or the nails of her front. While I had been observing Patricia clamming I was also curious about how fast she was able to clam. I timed her, and found that she dug up 8 clams in 10 minutes, and then 7 clams in the next 10 minutes.
© 2008 Jessica Teel |
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