Munsey and Boda must have a craving for those tender new leaves growing on the trees because the boys are once again climbing to great heights to get a nibble on the second full day of Spring.
This is a photograph of Boda , as he straddles on a relatively small tree branch. Boda now weighs 840 pounds and still manages to mobilize all that weight 30 plus feet up the tree!
Munsey’s weight is 760 pounds. While I was observing the bears today Munsey didn’t climb much more than three feet up the tree trunk. This isn’t unusual for Munsey, he’s always had a tenancy to not climb as high up into the tree tops as his brother Boda.
If your interested in stopping to visit Munsey and Boda and hope to see them tree climbing then stop in and visit them at the Marshfield Wildwood Zoo in by around 10:00 -11:00 am.
Munsey and Boda will remain separated for a few more weeks to allow Munsey’s stitches to heal. Since the separation of the Kodiak bear cubs, I’ve observed a great deal of vocalization (best described as huffing) between Munsey and Boda. If Boda would happen to walk to the far end of the bridge, Munsey will huff loudly in Boda’s direction and Boda will return to Munsey’s location.
When the two cubs are separated with a road in-between each habitat area the huffing is frequent and projected more loudly. Munsey in the foreground and Boda is in the background. While I’ve been observing the cubs behavior, it appears that the brothers would sit facing towards each other for an hour or more. Boda would climb to the top of the stairs and try to find a way to get onto the bridge, to get to his brother, while Munsey would begin digging as close to fencing that’s located in the direction of his brother Boda.
Last night Boda began to dig a trench in the JP Adler Kodiak Bear Exhibit area and this morning Munsey continued to dig in the same area, while Boda was watching him from north side of the Hamus Bear Bridge. I could hear Boda huffing at Munsey while he was digging a deeper trench. I wondered if Boda was giving Munsey directions from a far.
Normally Boda has an alpha personality but ever since Munsey has been under the weather and/ or recovering from his procedure, Boda has been displaying a very maternal and caring behavior towards his little brother.
When Boda isn’t keeping Munsey company, he’ll spend a little time playing with a small piece of landscaping fabric or messing around with a large stick while cooling off in the pond.
While observing Boda play in the water September 2nd 2017, this was one of the most lengthily periods of time spent enjoying the water. The majority of the time, Boda has spent his time being as physically close to his brother Munsey and only leaving his side to get a drink of water and cool down in the pond for about 15 minutes. Normally boda would cool down and return to his brothers side for about an hour to two hours before returning to the pond for another drink. This routine would repeat it’s self for hours on end throughout the day.
Since Munsey’s been feeling under the weather, I must say that Boda has defiantly demonstrated that he’s a very caring and nurturing brother! Boda has been keeping a close eye on his brother and often spends as much time close to his brother while Munsey’s been resting inside.
On Tuesday morning September 5th it was a wonderful surprise to see Munsey outside exploring the JP Adler Kodiak Bear Exhibit. He sniffed around the entire area and then sat by the south side of the habitat area gazing and vocally huffing at Boda. Boda gazed and huffed responding to Munsey. The two cubs sat looking at each other and vocalizing with each other for at least the two hours on tuesday while I was documenting their behavior.
Here are a few photographs of Munsey and Boda playing together a few weeks ago.
At first Boda wasn’t sure what to think about a young zoo guest wearing a bear head costume. He seemed to enjoy interacting withthe kid in the bear costume.
Munsey (one of two rescued Kodiak bears living in the JP Adler Kodiak Bear Exhibit at Wildwood Zoo in Marshfield, Wisconsin was intrigued by the guitar playing zoo guest (Lance Jacobs) that came to entertain the animals at Wildwood Zoo.
I’d been thinking about exposing the cubs to music and observe how they react to the music. Thanks to Lance Jacobs, that surprised us today, I was able to document the reaction of the cubs to live music.
Boda (Munsey’s brother) didn’t seem to react to the music (he kept swimming and playing with his beer keg) but Munsey was captivated by the music and followed the musician t back and forth as he played his guitar for the Kodiak bears.
To learn more about the rescued Kodiak bear cubs and their life at Wildwood Zoo go to the following links
Munsey and Boda seem to know when it’s breakfast or lunch time at Wilwood Zoo. So they often decide to keep a watchful eye out for Steve Burns (the head zookeeper) or other trained staff members that serve them their meals everyday.
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…
Munsey and Boda had a refreshing snack of pineapple and coconuts this morning. The only problem with a coconut, is trying to figure out how to crack the thing open,to get the good stuff inside!
Here’s Munsey (above photograph) trying to figure out how to crack the shell of the coconut.
Boda managed to figure out the secret of cracking and opening the coconut shell but poor Munsey just couldn’t get the shell to crack!
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.
iMAGiNETHAT! 