Andrwe Bazeley Offline Upload & Sell: On
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These two had just finished nursing. The shot of them nursing is pretty boring because their faces are buried in mum's belly and not much to see. When getting ready to nurse, the mum will look around for a spot where she can sit and get a good look all around while the cubs are nursing. But she will often pick a place where her back is protected from the wind and intruders as she did in this case. And the mum doesn't lie down -- she sits like a Buddha (I guess she doesn't cross her legs though). Because her diet has been seal, her milk smells like seal -- yum!. And chances are she hasn't had a decent meal since she left the ice the previous year in June or July - and this was taken in late February. In the case of the Churchill bears, the denning area is about 60km from the ice. So mum had the cubs around Xmas, has been nursing them for about 2 months and now her fat stores and milk supply are running out. She can only hope that she has given the cubs enough nutrition and strength that they can make it to the ice. But they can only travel about 10km a day because the cubs don't have much strength -- and she has to stop every km or two to feed and rest them. Have seen a mum start the trek with 3 cubs and lose 2 of them to wolves on the way to the ice. Its a pretty tough job that she has -- and she will feed them and teach them and protect them for the next two years. Cheers, Andrew
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