The Bear’s Den

Linsey Duncan

Den is a womb. 
Womb is a den. 
Come spring thaw, 
they emerge from within. 
Mother bear and her children. 
Roll the die? 
One to three (occasionally four) children appear. 
They stay close to her,
clinging, helpless, 
bright eyes watching her every decision. 

She teaches them 
to dig for the best roots, 
to scrape off the best moss, 
to select the best mushrooms 
and the best shoots and sedges 
and the best way to sniff out winter-killed carrion.

Her children will learn to take fish and small rodents, 
dead creatures of any size, 
grubs and beehives. 
A bear is always hungry,
and is particular only in the quality of the quantities. 

Her cubs will stay close to her. 
But sometimes, they cannot be close. 
They will scale trees when caught alone, 
by predator or by male bear hoping to free their mother for breeding. 
They will see teeth and muscle, 
a threatening shadow, 
and they will squall for mother. 
And she will come. barreling and furious and implacable. 
And woe to any in her way. 

How can it be otherwise?
Cubs are fragile. 
This cannot be helped. 
She knows it, but they are no less dear.
This first year is perilous, 
keeping them fed, 
keeping them from feeding wolves, coyotes, cougars. 
But if they make it long enough, 
they will have jaws and claws formidable enough on their own, 
to dig through sedge and claim kills they did not need to make. 
They will have their own dens. 
Be their own rambling terrors. 

The young females will begin their own extended, 
and ever more extended dynasties. 
The young males will intersect with them, 
briefly, if fervidly, 
and go home comfortably alone. 
Still comfortably alone. 

After the last breath of winter,
the bears emerge.
Solitary father, 
and guiding mother with her children,
unthawing with the spring all over again.

The Science

The life cycle of the brown bear is very much a story of the mother; male bears do not raise cubs and spend only a couple of weeks at the outside with a mate. A fertilized egg doesn’t implant until the mother bear is in hibernation. The cubs are born while she hibernates, assuming she has put on enough weight to support them during the winter. Hibernation is a strange and wonderful time for bears! Despite staying still for long periods of time, they don’t experience much, if any, bone loss, and typically retain muscle mass as well. Their metabolism slows greatly as they rest; it’s more than a deep sleep.

Cubs will usually stay with their mother for at least two years and she is a very involved parent and teacher. Cub mortality is very high in that first year, but if they make it to year two, their chances of making it to adulthood are much greater. Sexual maturity for females comes, on average, at five years, with males coming into maturity a year later, and it all begins again. Bears live an average of 25 years (although they can live at least a decade more).

The Poet

Linsey Duncan is a software developer (and poet!), who lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and wonderful mutt. She is fascinated by all things beastly and biological.