Black Bear Cubs Sampling Solid Food But Continue to Nurse For The Next Year
Black Bears only mate every two years, due to the fact that their cubs are not weaned until they are a year and a half old. When born in January, a cub weighs less than a pound and is roughly 9” long. For the next three months it nurses steadily on its mother’s very rich milk (20-25% fat compared to a human’s 3-5%). Depending on the number of siblings a cub has as well as the amount of milk its mother produces, it weighs between four and six pounds when it emerges from its den in April.
Soon thereafter the cub starts sampling the food that its mother eats, but swallows very little. Slowly it begins to eat and digest solid food (cubs are partial to ant brood when very young), but it will still be nursing for the next year, right up until next April or May, when it is weaned by its mother who will then turn her attention to finding a mate.
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Some White-tailed Deer Fawns Still Nursing
White-tailed Deer are ruminants. The process of rumination (gathering a lot of food at once and then digesting it later by chewing one’s cud) is fully developed by the age of about two months, or roughly by the end of July. Fawns can be completely weaned and survive without milk at this time, but does often don’t wean them until 3 to 4 months. It’s not unheard of to see a fawn born in May or June still nursing, or attempting to, in October. It stands to reason that it’s hard to give up this valuable source of nutrition, for deer milk is richer in fat, protein and energy than cow’s milk. (Photo taken by Erin Donahue on September 2nd.)
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Muskrats Feeding Young
Female muskrats bear one to four litters a summer, with each litter consisting of one and 14 young (average is 6-7). The first litter is born in late April or early May and for the first two weeks they subsist solely on milk, but soon thereafter the parents start supplementing their offspring’s diet with vegetation.
When the young are about a month old, weaning will occur and the young will be out foraging for themselves. Until then, the parents work diligently bringing back the roots, stems, leaves and fruits of aquatic vegetation to their den where their young devour it. (Photo: muskrat bringing cattail leaves back to den)
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Black Bear Yearlings Still Nursing
Female Black Bears mate every two years. Their young are born in January or February and they stay with their mother for the first year and a half of their lives. Although many sources state that cubs are weaned during their first summer, I discovered firsthand that young bears continue to nurse well into their second year (even though they’ve been eating solid food since they were a few months old).
Two different times while I was within a stone’s throw of her, the mother lay down on the ground and her yearlings proceeded to nurse. Soon, in May or June, shortly before she mates, the mother will drive her yearlings away, forcing them to disperse. Life’s lessons have been taught. By their second spring the yearlings have learned the basics from their mother: what to eat and where to find it, how to defend themselves, where to find safety and how to interact and communicate with other black bears. and they should be able to survive on their own.
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Weaning of Red Fox Kits Nearing Completion
When Red Fox kits are about three weeks old they are introduced to solid food. Their mother’s milk continues to provide them with sustenance for several weeks more but it is increasingly fortified by prey that their parents catch. At about five weeks of age, just a week or so after the kits are seen above ground, the process of weaning begins. The mother physically prevents them from having access to her teats by lying down on her stomach or snapping at her kits if they attempt to nurse too often.
The kits in this photograph, taken on April 26 several years ago, are approximately two months old, enjoying what may be one of the last warm milk meals they will ever have. Weaning is completed at about eight weeks or a little more, when the kits’ teeth have all come in.
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Red Foxes Giving Birth
Red Fox vixens are giving birth to one to seven pups (usually three to five) in their underground dens at this time of year. The pictured pup is about four weeks old, and is starting to acquire its sand-colored coat. Red Fox pups are born with a temporary coat of dark grey-brown fur which we rarely see, as they stay in their den for the first month or so, where their mother provides warmth and milk. At the age of four weeks or thereabouts, the pups begin to emerge from the den and sit, nap and play near its entrance. At that time they grow a second coat that is very close to the color of the sandy terrain in which their den is usually dug. Their red coat, for which they are named, develops later in the summer.
Although it’s too early to see Red Fox pups, keep an eye out for active dens which are easiest to find where there is still snow on the ground, as the dirt around the entrance is usually visible. Males can sometimes be seen going back and forth, delivering food to the vixen and her pups.
The next Naturally Curious post will be 3/24/17.
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Young Raccoons Leaving Natal Dens
Most raccoons in the Northeast are born in April or early May and spend the next seven weeks inside a tree cavity (brush piles and underground burrows are known but not prevalent denning sites) living off their mother’s milk. Four to six weeks go by before the young are able to stand upright, but soon thereafter they are climbing and hanging out of the cavity entrance. The young raccoons are in the process of being weaned when they leave their den at the age of seven weeks. For the next month or so the mother raccoon and her offspring forage together; by the age of five months the young are doing a lot of foraging on their own. Often the family remains together into the late fall or even winter. During cold winter weather, they typically will den together, and the following spring when the new litter arrives, the one-year-old raccoons disperse. (Thanks to Andrea Ambros for photo op.)
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