It was 0 degrees early this morning as we walked the few blocks to Running Bear Pancake House for breakfast. Good food to start the day. The decor and menu is all along the Bear theme - I had a Mama Bear breakfast which was one large pancake topped with a scrambled egg and 2 slices of bacon. Yum!
From here we went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center where 8 bears and six wolves are kept.
They spend a large amount of time in outdoor enclosures so it was interesting to see and read about them. The bears were all rescued animals that either got in trouble interacting with people or were orphaned as cubs. Sam, the largest grizzly is 10' tall when standing and weighs about 1,000 pounds! The others are much smaller - "only" 600-700 lbs.
All the wolves here were born in captivity and weigh between 90-110 pounds, with the males being somewhat larger. In the wild their life expectancy is only about 4 years, but here in captivity they live about 10 years. The population in Yellowstone has thrived since their controversial re-introduction in 1995. Interesting how all of nature is a delicate balance, all inter-related. Since wolves have grown in population, the deer and elk population is more in control, which leaves willows and other plants that elk eat becoming more common which feeds bears, birds and other animals. And so it goes on...
There were also displays and some short films - a nicely organized not-for-profit educational facility!
From here we walked back to the hotel, stopping at Smith & Chandlers to buy a nice locally made Christmas ornament with a bison painting. (Our tree now is a memory tree mostly filled with things we have picked up on our travels.)
We met again for salad and pizza lunch at Gusher's, and then walked to pick up our cross country skis. Jen shuttled us to the beginning of the Rendezvous Trail where we all clipped on our skis and set out.
The trail was well groomed and featured well worn channels that the skis fit into.
Back to our rooms to rest up a bit before dinner, which was catered at the hospitality room of the hotel. Odd combo of chicken wings, quiche and a potato pie casserole, plus brownies. Someone prepared the food and dropped it off so we never did see them. Not our favorite meal, but we didn't come here to eat.
After dinner Heather gave a talk about Grizzly Bears which is one of her specialties. She has also worked in Denali in Alaska for several years, so was quite familiar with them. She enjoyed pointing out the relationship of bears and humans as we both came across the Bering Strait Landbridge and migrated south. We have had an interesting relationship of predator/prey going both ways. She thinks grizzlies are much more predictable than black bears and actually are less predatory towards humans. While a grizzly may attack a human it is often as a dominance thing and rarely will a grizzly actually eat a human. Not so with black bears.
Heather talked about the use of bear spray when hiking and how to handle an attack depending on the type of bear. At one point there were up to 100,000 grizzly bears in North America but by the 1930's and 40's they were almost extinct due to human intervention and the European attitude of manifest destiny where humans were meant to be dominant over all animals.
The bears in Yellowstone hibernate, although there is evidence that they sometimes wake, particularly when giving birth in January or February. Females must hibernate to have offspring. So a winter encounter is possible, though not likely. Baby bears are blind and hairless at birth but grow rapidly and will stay with their mother for 2-4 years.
Jen discussed tomorrow's snow mobiling experience and made sure we had paperwork signed for insurance, liability, etc. Then we said goodnight and went back to our room. The sidewalks and streets in town are not cleared for the most part, and we have been wearing cleats (Yak Trax)that attach to our boots which makes getting around easier.
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