YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

By Judy Lehmberg, BioPics Photography, photos available at www.vernelehmberg.com

There is a female bear that hangs out in the Swan Lake Flats area called Quad Mom because she produced 4 cubs in 2010. It is not uncommon for Alaskan bears to have 4 cubs, but it is very uncommon in Yellowstone. The last one in the following photo was the runt. It was always last when they were on the move and last to get anything to eat. She is a great mom though and used to let the runt ride on her back.

When she came out of hibernation in the spring of 2011 she only had 2 cubs. I have heard several people say what happened to her other two cubs but I don’t know for sure what happened. The two remaining cubs were pretty impressive for yearlings. In the photo below they had all just finished eating a baby elk. Quad Mom can find a baby elk in a sagebrush flat better than any bear I know

I never got a decent photo of either Quad Mom or her cubs in 2012 or 2013 but I have seen them several times this year. When she came out of hibernation this year she had 3 cubs. We saw then several times, but never close.

When she came out of hibernation this year she had 3 cubs. We’ve seen them several times but never close. We’ve heard that Quad Mom is over 20 years old and that many people thought her 2010 cubs would be her last. With 3 cubs this year she fooled us!

A little over a week ago a large, dark male grizzly tried to mate with Quad Mom. Because she has new cubs she wasn’t interested. Male grizzlies sometimes try to kill a female grizzlies’ new cubs to bring her into estrus. It was a big male and she didn’t hesitate to fight him to protect her babies. By the time the fight was over the male had killed one of her cubs. I didn’t see it happen but I hear she put up a great fight and that it ended with one of the cubs on her back and another in her mouth. I was really sad when I heard she lost one of her babies. But I need to keep that in perspective. It is amazing she didn’t loose them all and it is due to her courage she didn’t.
A few days ago we found a pair of mating grizzlies south of Obsidian Cliff, several miles south of Swan Lake Flats where Quad Mom lives. After filming them for a while I learned that the female of the pair was one of Quad Mom’s cubs she had in 2010, one of the original 4!! Even though she has lost some siblings she is busy making Quad Mom some grandkids, and that makes me really, really happy.

To Be Continued …. Next Year.