On June 5, Sunday, at the Peña de Santa Lucía, in the mountains of Palence, An amateur recorded a fight between two grizzly bears like never before seen. A male tried to kill a bear cub for his mother to recover the zeal, but this got in the way and both got involved in an epic battle that ended with the two adult specimens falling down a precipice 30 meters high. The bear, which weighed more than 200 kilos, died. But not the female. She could see how she struggled back to her feet.
The video jumped from one side of the planet to the other. Chinese state television, the ‘Miami Herald’… there was a moment when it was very difficult to escape from the images of the bear and the she-bear, fighting and falling. The story kept his interest for several days, because a pack of dogs tracked down the cub and its mother, which led to a cave. The technicians left water and 40 kilos of apples there. There was hopeful signs. Surveillance cameras recorded her sounds first. Later, images of the puppy, still nursing.
And then everything was in silence. There was not a single clue more. There hasn’t been since. Where are they a month later the bear and the bear cub who went around the world?
“Maybe in August, which is when the bears usually pick berries, they will show up again. But it doesn’t look good. There is not the slightest hint. It’s a long time. If they have not left there for another exit, the options are not very high & rdquor ;, he admits William Palomero, president of the Brown Bear Foundation, an NGO that participated in the device together with the Junta de Castilla y León. In the autonomous government they transmit a similar impression. “They may have left the cave for some reason. another cavity. It is difficult, but we cannot rule out any hypothesis & rdquor ;, explains David Cuber, Head of the Natural Spaces, Fauna and Flora Service of the Ministry of the Environment.
kill to copulate
The infanticide it is a common practice among brown bears. so much, that it is the main cause of death of bear cubs in the Cantabrian Mountains. The males try to end the lives of the puppies in the area that are not their children so that the mother recovers her heat, which usually happens two days later of the slaughter, and thus copulate with her and breed.
The absence of signs, experts admit, does not invite optimism about the outcome
The female who stars in this thriller, without going any further, also had another cub, but it was gone when the mother confronted the male. Most likely, experts explain, is that this would have sacrificed shortly before to go after his brother. At the end of last June, shortly after the famous confrontation, the corpse of another bear appeared not far from there. She had a severe trauma, broken lower jaw. Still to be done necropsy, but everything indicates that this was due to another fight with a mother who defended her cubs.
“It exceptional here is not what has happened. Attacks on cubs are normal and for reproductive purposes. What is exceptional are the images & rdquor ;, says Palomero. “It was shocking. We had captured other matchups, but not like this one. Are harsh images, but very important to learn about the biology of the brown bear. This is frequent and every day it will be more so, because there are more and more specimens & rdquor ;, adds Cubero.
the tense wait
The brown bear never disappeared from the Cantabrian Mountains, unlike what happened in the Pyrenees. The specimens are native, not brought from Slovenia, and there are already more than 300. Two of them, another bear and her cub, shared the Santa Lucía rock with the missing female and cub. His cave is located just over 100 meters one from the other. And there goes that little family.
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That is why the experts prefer not to enter the bear den where the badly wounded bear took refuge. “We want to avoid affections – Cubero points out -. Until the other bear leaves the environment, something that in principle it will do in a matter of days or weeks, because your cub will have grown and will start to move, we will not do a new exploration & rdquor ;. First, a system of videoscopes, little invasive. If they don’t register any signals, they will activate a drone.
The cave where the mother took refuge with her cub is deep, of about 15 meters, and these mountains are connected by tunnels. They could have exited elsewhere, but it seems unlikely that they did so without being seen by the guards. For now, the question remains. “Hopefully in the coming weeks we will get solve the mystery&rdquor ;, concludes the technician of the Junta de Castilla y León. He says that all this has left him a “bittersweet taste in the mouth & rdquor ;. Like the best thrillers.