This week I began recording the movements and activities of Munsey and Boda. The last time I had done a detailed documentation of the cubs was in late October and early November of 2016.
It’s always interesting to get a more in-depth view of the bears and discover patterns schedules and characteristics that I wouldn’t of noticed if I hadn’t taken the time to graph the detailed movements of the bears.
This information is always shared with the staff at Wildwood Zoo, including the photographs and video’s. It’s my personal way of repaying the Zoo for all the time I spend there while photographically recording the cubs growth and development since they arrived in October of 2015.
On Monday I also had taken photographs and video’s to match the written documentation, so if someone wanted to look at the documentation in the distant future, they could go back in time and see the cubs as they were in the past, while I was graphing and taking notes on their behavior.
Each image has a designated period of time added to the digital file number to use with the graphing chart and notations that were taken at that specific time.
Whenever I post images of Munsey and Boda splashing in the pools / ponds or wrestling around in the Bear Woods , please remember that these bears are created with built in protective gear! I think of them as high school hockey players, they have the equipment to play very rough and not hurt each other.
Munsey and Boda often drop their favorite toys down in the pit! (The PIT is a section of the old bear exhibit that drops about 15 to 20 feet down and was created to keep the old bears inside the bear exhibit without using a fence or other obstructive devices that would block the vision for the zoo guest while watching the bears.
Munsey and Boda often drop their red and blue balls and favorite fire hose in the pit and wait for the staff to retrieve the toys. The problem is that the bears do this fairly often and then the bears attempt to retrieve the toys themselves. Thank goodness the zoo staff comes and retrieves the items but these bears behave exactly like a child that two years of age, so you know the ball’s going down into the PIT again in the near future.
Interaction with zoo guest’s in always a great experience for everyone! People are thrilled to see the cubs up close and personal! I’m thrilled to be able to photograph and video the bears without dealing with light reflecting off the fencing! Keep in mind I really appreciate the devices used keep the bears and zoo guests safe at Wildwood Zoo. If not for those devices, I’d never be able to document the Kodiak bears with such ease and consistency.
I’m looking forward to working on my five days of graphing documentation to see what new things the zoo staff and I can learn about Munsey and Boda and compare the information to my last charts and future charts.
Munsey and Boda have a brother Dodge that lives at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. Didge has bonded with two female Grizzly cubs. To learn more about Dodge go to the following links…
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=773
http://www.13abc.com/content/news/Rescued-brown-bears-on-exhibit-at-the-Toledo-Zoo-383093881.html
http://exploremarshfield.com/whos-who-at-the-zoo/
http://exploremarshfield.com/kodiakbearscelebratesecondbirthday/
http://exploremarshfield.com/wildwoodzoo_munseyboda/
https://www.facebook.com/pg/wildwoodzoo/videos/https://www.facebook.com/pg/wildwoodzoo/videos/
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