Blackbear 1069 



mother seems to spend most of her time suckhng them, and is 

 very solicitous for their comfort. The cubs have a habit of 

 whining Hke puppy dogs, especially when by any chance they 

 are crowded away from their dinner. Their mother licks 

 them and fondles them with her paws and is as proud of them 

 and jealous of interference as any human mother." 



Frank J. Thompson, whose account of the Blackbears 

 bred in the Cincinnati Zoo is the earliest that I knew of, gives 

 the following interesting details of their development:-^ 



" In about ten days their coats began to show and were of a 

 grayish tint, which gradually passed through the various shades 

 until they became a brownish-black. It was just 40 days 

 before the first one's eyes opened, and 2 days later the second 

 followed suit. From that time forward I watched very closely 

 to ascertain the exact time that would elapse before the young 

 ones would leave the nest, and on the seventy-first day after 

 birth, when the mother, as was her habit, came to the grating 

 to be fed, one of the youngsters left the nest and followed her. 

 So soon as she found it out she immediately drew it gently 

 back, and, on its second attempt, she cuffed it soundly, which 

 put a stop to its wandering propensity. 



"After a few days she allowed them to wander about at 

 will, provided no one was immediately in front of the den, but 

 so soon as a visitor put in an appearance, they were driven back 

 into the nest, and not allowed to emerge until the strangers were 

 out of sight. For some time she always suckled them in one 

 position, lying over and completely covering them by stretching 

 flat on her belly with her legs drawn up under her and her head 

 tucked down between her front paws. As they grew older and 

 began to run about she would sit on her haunches, lazily lean 

 back against the wall, take a cub on each fore-arm, and hold 

 them up to her breast until they were satisfied. They soon 

 became expert climbers, taking advantage of the slightest 

 inequalities of the stone walls and the cracks between the 

 heavy oaken planks to reach the ceiling of the den on three 

 sides, while the grating in front served capitally for their sky- 



" Forest and Stream, September 4, 1879, p. 605. 



