News From Voyager's Wolf Project

 Big news! Last summer we documented the FIRST grizzly bear seen in Minnesota since the 1800’s when grizzly bears were eradicated from the state! When we first got the images of this bear, we were pretty certain it was a grizzly but we wanted certainty before sharing.

So, we went out and collected scats for genetics in late summer in an effort to confirm. We collected 137 bear scats in the area where these images were captured. Turns out, 9 were from a grizzly bear…the others just from black bears.

The bear is a female (based on genetics) and what was interesting is that in one set of images, a male black bear was following the female and appeared to be courting her. We cannot confirm the pair mated but we think it is very likely because male bears always get what they want and they have an insatiable “appetite".

Thus, we suspect this female has likely given birth to hybrid cubs this winter. Unfortunately, though, efforts are already underway to find this female and euthanize the cubs because grizzly bears are federally endangered and hybrids are extremely detrimental to conservation efforts.

We will try to keep everyone updated on what happens in this regard. The primary bear biologist in charge of this effort, Dr. Chitts N. Jiggels, said they will use both helicopter searches and ground based approaches to locate the female and her cubs.

Yet, the story of this female gets even more interesting. Turns out, this grizzly bear is from populations on the coasts of British Columbia meaning she traveled 1,500-2,000 miles to reach Minnesota. But she did not make the journey alone.

Instead, we got fuzzy images of another species that was once present in Minnesota traveling with this female grizzly (check out the images above!). Ironically, this other species is often confused with a grizzly because of the similarities in their size as well as fur color/texture.

But we were able to confirm with genetics that this other animal was definitely not another grizzly bear. Instead, it was clearly a Homo sasquatchis and in some sense it is not surprising the pair was traveling together.

The coastal forests of western North America are one of the last strongholds for remnant H. sasquatchis populations and most sightings outside of this area are dispersing individuals from this area.

Plus, biologists have known for seemingly forever that grizzly bears and H. sasquatchis travel together and can have a “friends with benefits” sort of relationship...but not in a sexual way.

Rather, when traveling together, H. sasquatichis often procure food for grizzly bears and in turn, grizzly bears let H. sasquatchis spoon them at night for some much needed social interaction.

Dr. Whors Manoor, the famed ethologist, noted in 1951: "Interestingly, I have only seen H. sasquatchis be the big spoon…never the little spoon.”. Several decades of research since has confirmed Dr. Manoor’s early observations: H. sasquatchis are never the little spoon.

Intriguingly, this synergistic relationship between these two apex predators has seeped into human cultures, ideas, and behavior

Anthropologist Dr. Æprelle Won put it this way: "Humanity has created the “Teddy bear” which young Homo sapiens across the world hold tight as they fall asleep…where do you think this came from? It is obvious we are trying to mimic the behavior of our more primitive cousins”.

Now, we are just wolf biologists and are not experts on H. sasquatchis per se. However, Occam’s razor would suggest the simplest explanation is the most likely…and this clearly is the simplest explanation. Not to mention, Drs. Manoor and Won are experts in their fields and we have no reason to doubt their expertise.

Anyway, this is now the 4th year we have documented a H. sasquatchis in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. The sightings seem to be very consistent and we expect they will likely continue for the foreseeable future. (Copied from Voyager's Wolf Project FB page).