Got there about five minutes late and had to scavenge around looking for an empty seat in the group of about 125 that were quietly watching & listening as Ben Kilham spoke from up front. He's a tall guy, must be 6'5", and he reminded me of a high school biology teacher as he spoke while slowly changing the individual photos on the large movie screen.
On television he seems to take a slower approach to discussing his favorite topic, the Black Bear. Here in person he was very energetic, a very fast and knowlegable talker and the hour really just flew by.
To a Black Bear, food is money!!!
Everything they do is all about food. The food's nutritional value, the energy needed to get it, and the risk to the bear, are all considered as a bear goes about its' daily business. Just like people need to raise cash every year to pay their property tax, the Black Bear needs to eat so it will put on weight. For a male, or younger bear to make it through hibernation, it needs to increase its' body weight by 30%. For a female that expects to get pregnant and, after a short gestation, give birth to a tiny, one pound, baby, sometime in January in its' winter den, it needs to increase its' body weight by 50%, mostly all in fat.
Listening to Ben Kilham talk, I got the sense that he is both a scientist studying the bear's behavior as well as a bear rescue facilitator that supports and trains cubs that have lost their momma. The two bear cubs that lost their momma bear when it was killed by a Laconia police officer in May 2007 at the Funspot,
http://wbztv.com/watercooler/pets/Po....2.587142.html, are now hibernating at Ben's bear station over in the woods of Orford, NH.
During the question period at the hour's end, a woman asked what we should do if we ever inadvertantly meet up with a bear. Ben said: you should stand up tall, look straight at the bear, make direct eye contact, and then talk softly to it. And do not allow yourself to feel any fear, or to turn and run. Bears can smell fear, and as a preditor they are drawn toward this. A bear can use its' voice as an aggressive growl or as a soft murmur, so they will get the message when spoken to in a soft voice.
A Black Bear is just like your friendly brother-in-law, invite him over for a good dinner once, and he'll want to get friendly and stay forever, and enjoy all the good food. A bear never forgets a food source. Living mostly on plants, nuts, berries, and ants & bees or wasps; the black oil, sunflower seed that is used in bird feeders has about twice the food value of what the bear normally eats. Sort of like chocolate fudge to a human.
Watching from her house while a bear ate apples off the ground under an apple tree. A neighbor reported that every time a motor vehicle went down the nearby road, the bear would stop eating and posture itself behind the tree's trunk to hide itself from view.
In India, a bear rescue station had been keeping its' rescued bears in cages until they grew old enough to be released, only to have them all be killed and eaten by tigers. Being reared in a cage, they just did not learn their survival skills needed to go it out, alone.
Ben Kilham has three different hard- covered books on the Black Bear, plus
www.benkilham.com. Suggest you check out all the photos!
One very amusing photo of two bears, probably one-year-olds, sitting just like a driver & passenger, two-up style, on an old black snowmobile!