Toledo Zoo, October 30, more polars

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It always pays to check again -- sleepy bears have gotta wake up some time.....

This is the cub who was asleep on top of the tall "rocks."







The other cub was still over by Mama.





Don't they look like they smell scrambled eggs and bacon?





We will now imagine a parent/child dialog.

"Mama?"





"Yes, dear?"





"Mama, can we play that scary game where I pretend I'm really fierce and you let me bite your neck?"





"Yes, we can do that."





"Grrrrrrr! I'm the scariest belly-up bear cub this side of the Mississippi!"

"Yes, you surely are."





"Mama?"





"Now I'm going to play an even scarier game!"





"Yes?"






"I'm going to play the 'lean waaaaaaay back and see if the ball drops in the water' game!"

"That's pretty scary, dear! If your dinner falls into the water ,when you are a grownup bear, you might go hungry."

"Don't worry, Mama, I didn't let if fall!"

(if you look at the bigger version, you can see the ball between her jaws and the "rocks.")






Back to the other cub.

She hung out right by us for the whole time we stayed by that window. I expect that people find a way to get food into the exhibits, even when it is difficult to do so, and perhaps she was hoping we'd offer some goodies.

It's interesting to me how much we can understand of an animal's posture and demeanor to understand its feelings. I mean, it is possible that I am misinterpreting her posture and her expression, but this surely looks very submissive to me (she's looking up at a 6'4.5" person).

Another interesting thing is the shape of her nose. It looks designed to funnel scent down her nostrils.....






Some parts of her with (almost) no glare..........





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