Brown bear in March
Text and photos: Bert Rähni, www.360.ee
Translation: Liis
At the end of March the first bear tracks may be found on the snow.
They are big at that time, because the grown-up male bears wake up first. The width of the forepaw is usually taken as measure of the size of the track. Young bears leave tracks that are less than 10 centimetres wide. A female bear’s track is usually not much wider than 13 centimetres. Those of grown-up males are 15-17 centimetres and the width of a very big individual’s track may be up to some 20 centimetres. Although specialists have doubts about the linear relationship between the width of the paw and the size of the bear, some conclusions can still be drawn from it.
By tracing the first springtime tracks in the opposite direction of where the bear moved the winter den may be discovered. After waking up bears stay for some days near the den. They lie around in the sun and chew on twigs. This transition period is obviously needed to get the body working properly. After that the first feces, the "bear plug“, is dischaarged and the bear sets off on the first food searches.
They are big at that time, because the grown-up male bears wake up first. The width of the forepaw is usually taken as measure of the size of the track. Young bears leave tracks that are less than 10 centimetres wide. A female bear’s track is usually not much wider than 13 centimetres. Those of grown-up males are 15-17 centimetres and the width of a very big individual’s track may be up to some 20 centimetres. Although specialists have doubts about the linear relationship between the width of the paw and the size of the bear, some conclusions can still be drawn from it.
By tracing the first springtime tracks in the opposite direction of where the bear moved the winter den may be discovered. After waking up bears stay for some days near the den. They lie around in the sun and chew on twigs. This transition period is obviously needed to get the body working properly. After that the first feces, the "bear plug“, is dischaarged and the bear sets off on the first food searches.
7.03.2011
At the end of last week we managed to see this year’s first bear tracks near Vahastu on the Järvamaa and Raplamaa border. The track width was 13-14 centimetres, consequently a young male bear. At the winter den everything was as in a textbook.
The bear’s sleeping quarters was a deep hollow, under a young spruce and lined with spruce branches.
Around it were broken young spruces and trampling tracks.
We found the "bear plug“ a few metres from the den.
The one unexplanable thing was a path some 10 metres long and beginning at the den. The path was strongly trampled or dragged in and spruce branches were lying around on it. The path ended under spruces.
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