This one now resides in a bear park near Paris, France. I look down at the 'almost' angelic face of the baby bear cradled in my arms, much like a human baby. I marvel at the expressive face, eyes closed, sucking frantically at the bottle. We only place bear cubs with organizations that have a habitat that is asthetically pleasing, healthy and interesting to the bears. I can't begin to tell you the incredible and very personal feelings I get when I raise a baby animal from birth.
Bears are another of nature's marvels.
They are very efficient users of the food that they consume, having a minimum of excrement for the volume of food that they eat. In the winter when they enter their dens for a long sleep, they draw upon the fat reserves they have built up in the fall when they ate enormous amounts of food. During the winter, they do not eat or drink and that is the time the mother gives birth to her young. Baby bears are very small when they are born, compared to the size they will be at maturity. There can be from one to four in a litter.