Photo credit: Leonard Bauersfeld
Just as the bears in the Libearty Sanctuary enjoy the beautiful weather during this gentle winter and, especially, every day when the sun shines brightly on the sky, they made a habit out of turning everyone's looks on them as they're practicing their wonderful nature show – they climb trees, they play from one branch to another and they are sometimes spending hours enjoying this game.
Of course, the funniest and fastest are the little cubs who are able to cover kilometers daily, up and down the trees' trunks! Thus, they actually turn on lots of emotions – their moms', but also the tourists' and guides' who are watching them breathless admiring the natural acrobatic game! By the way, climbing the trees is one of the first "tips" the baby bears learn from their mothers even since their first coming outs from the den where they were taken care as newborns. It's actually like the number one lesson in the chapter "Watch out for dangers!". The mother usually teaches them to climb the trees as fast as possible as she sends them a specific signal when she feels any danger around.
The bears usually have three main reasons for climbing the trees and the first of them is clear: the bears go up the trees if they fear an immediate danger. Another reason that makes them great climbers is their crave! Yes, because most of the times, especially during the summer and the early autumn, the trees are rich in fruits and nuts, true delicacies for the furry giants! Another reason for their natural climbing abilities is their passion for resting! Well, just imagine taking a great nap in a natural hammock made of the forest tree brunches. It sounds great, right?
Although they are big, heavy animals and, most of the times, you might feel they can hardly move, the bears have actually been really properly “designed“ to climb the trees. They have bent, not retractable claws that help them a lot when they want to climb the trees. Of course, you have probably noticed that bears have something like a hump on the back, a little lower than their neck. Those are actually muscles that help them a lot when they start walking on two feet, but also when they want to go up in the trees.
Better climbers than the brown bears that live in theLibearty Sanctuary are the American black bears.They are smaller and faster. On the opposite, the grizzlies are even heavier than the brown bears, the same as polar bears that don't really climb the trees. Understandable, considering that they don't really have trees around, right?
