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Text by Umadevi A/P Murrty (Intern student, University Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus) Photos by Chiew Lin May We decided to integrate our three cubs with the friendly sub-adult group- Nano, Noah, Dodop, Mary & Wawa. Integration can help bears to reduce their stress-related behavior and they can learn pertinent skills from each other such as survival skills and defense skills. NOAH – The pretender Logan was playful and gets along with Noah. At first, Logan was excited and played well with Noah but Romolina and Joe did not really like to play with him as they stayed aside or rest on the comfortable hammock. Logan started to play biting and rolling with Noah, even wrestling for the whole time. He has shown to be a more fun-loving bear that always initiates to play with Noah. Noah tries to approach Romolina several times but she seems less interested in joining to play while maintaining her independence whereas Joe would paw Noah in a gentle way and he starts suckling to seek attention. After sometime, Joe and Noah still spent some time playing cheerily. After a few days of integration, Noah gets closer with Logan and they do love slow fights. Noah also likes sniffing Romolina’s body which makes her feel uncomfortable and run all around the cages. Romolina did learn to defend herself by vocalizing and she is SUPER FAST in escaping from others. MARY – The lovable Integration starts when the gate opened on 23rd April 2019 among Mary and the group of bears. Logan initiates to walks into Mary’s cage but he looks less confident in approaching Mary. As soon as Mary saw Logan, she kept growling and pawing at him for a minute. This makes Logan and his group afraid of her and they distance themselves from Mary for some time. Mary also barked at Romolina when she tried approaching her. Joe and Romolina, both bears kept suckling to seek comfort. Since the cage is full of new enrichments to boosts up the new cubs, Mary also found it energetic and she kept exploring it. Unfortunately, towards the end of integration Mary seemed to be stressed out and she starts pacing in a stereotypical pattern. Eventually, they get to know that Mary less plays with them, thus the cubs maintain their distance from Mary. DODOP – The sleepy When Dodop introduced to the cubs, she was busy exploring her environment while manipulating the enrichments by climbing up and down. Eventually, Dodop slowly came closer to Joe while sniffing to his body. But, Joe do not really interested with Dodop because she keeps biting Joe without releasing. Joe also showed anger towards Dodop by barking at her and avoids. Romolina shows her interest in playing with Dodop as they chasing each other within the cages, UP AND DOWN. Both bears had their good joyful time. Dodop also enjoyed mouthing and wrestling with Logan whenever the other two were fewer shows interest in play. WAWA- The explorer As the gate opens, Wawa being the curious one went into the den where the three cubs were located, and tried to approach Romolina, and sniff her. Romolina enjoys it and she did sniffing, mouthing and pawing in a friendly manner. Wawa wrestled her and they were playing some time happily. Logan, playful bear also did approach Wawa and they get along with each other quicker. They both wrestles for the next 15 minutes NON- STOP! They even had some rough fights which filled with fun and excitement. Whereas, Joe and Romolina were busy foragings while exploring the enrichment. NANO - The Spy Nano was introduced to the cubs on 26th April 2019. Nano shows his interest by sniffing at Logan’s back body and ears. Both of them vocalized at each other while Nano offers a friendly paw to Logan. Nano loves the enrichment provided in the cub’s cages and he spent a few minutes enjoying the attractive enrichment. Romolina and Joe were a little stressed and ended up in pacing in a stereotypical pattern. Joe gets angry at Nano when he sniffed Joe’s ears. Instead, Nano and Logan played chasing, climbing up and sharing the hammock while hugging and playing jovially. In conclusion, Logan loves to spend more time in making new friends and is a very active bear. Besides that, Romolina and Joe, who is less interested in making new friends however they are still trying to patch up with other bears slowly. Joe and Romolina are also known to be the explorer and love to live in their own world. Integration between three musketeer’s bears with the sub adult group was absolutely fine and no aggression found.
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Video by Chiew Lin May "Digging a dead log is one of my favourite hobbies!" - Logan the bear Sun bear serve important ecologic roles to maintain the health of our forest ecosystem! Please protect the sun bears from major threats. Video by Chiew Lin May Arboreal bear!! Little Logan was missing his left thumb and his left front paw has developed abnormally but these have never made give him up in climbing trees. Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May Joe, a three month old sun bear cub, was found by a person alone in the forest at Kg.Kipaku, Tambunan. The person then sent the cub to Lok Kawi Wildlife Park on the 12th of April 2018. The bear arrived on the 22nd of January 2019. We believe that Joe was stolen from his mother in the wild. Joe appeared tame and would suckle his hind paws which are believed to be a result from being kept as a pet for long periods in captivity. He needs to learn all the skills he will require to survive in the wild – skills that he would have learnt from his mother. We decided to introduce Joe with two resident cubs. Joe recently completed his quarantine period. He is now one year old and weighs 22kg. On the 22nd of February 2019, Joe made his first new friends! Once Joe entered the den, Logan and Romolina started to greet him by growling! Both started sniffing around while Joe was busy with exploring the new den first. Once the door opened, Logan started to play fight by biting and rolling with Joe. Logan has shown to be a more fun-loving bear that always initiates play with Joe. They can wrestle for hours and hours…nonstop PLAY!! Logan began spending more time with Joe while Romolina always seemed curious and she would paw Joe in a gentle way. Romolina would still like to maintain her independence and is less interested in joining to play. We found Joe being hugged by Logan when they met. Joe has had a new experience by learning how to defend himself during play fights and wrestling. We are glad to see Joe has been having a good time with his new friends, Logan and Romolina. These three bears have a close bond and share their food or enrichment together too. Little Romolina and Logan were quick to accept Joe. The three bears have been venturing out to the larger exercise dens which are filled with different types of enrichment. They share their dens which can enrich Joe’s life and help stimulate his natural behaviour. They enjoy playing, exploring and making us fall in love with their beautiful smiles!
This is important for the rescued bears to help them recover from trauma and start to put their past behind them. Interactions between Joe, Logan and Romolina have shown to be positive. Joe now has a place full of love. Hopefully, this relationship can help Joe become a more confident and stronger bear! Video by Chiew Lin May Sunday! Another day, another experience! Little Logan enjoys getting dirty digging, sunbathe and rolling on the hollow log! Let's make second chances for them to be free sun bears in the wild. Video by Chiew Lin May Little Romolina and Logan love spend every moment digging, tearing at everything in the forest! Please help us protect sun bear from habitat destruction! Video by Chiew Lin May “Forest doctor” Sun bear help ensure the health of the forest by keeping termite populations low. Let see how Logan serves as a forest doctor. Video by Chiew Lin May "I am totally in love with this stream! And it is a beautiful world! Trust me!" -Logan, an 11 months old cub Video by Chiew Lin May Bears, Bird's nest fern & Play See how Little Romolina and Logan reacted to the bird's nest fern!! Text and Photos by Chiew Lin May  Romolina has a beautiful crescent chest mark On the 10th of August 2018, it was a beautiful morning, Romolina’s surrogate mother took her out to the forest to experience the sounds and smells of forest environment for the first time.  'The feel of grass underneath my small paws!'  Happy! Happy!  She is very inquisitive and is always likes to sniff every corner of leaves.  She has been doing very well over the last two months After she had lost her mother and spent much of her time living as an illegal house pet, Romolina was given a second chance of freedom. Upon arrival, Romolina’s bodyweight was appropriate and she showed signs of stunted growth, but these have never caused her to fail at learning to be a wild bear like the other rescued bear cubs did!  How she has grown! Today she weight 12.30 kg. In the wild, Romolina’s mother would have taught her everything she needs to know to survive in the wild, but now she has to learn these skills by herself.  Is it the time came for Little Romolina to learn in the wild as a strong and confident bear On the 18th of August 2018, we brought Romolina out to the forest together with her best peer, Logan. Every time their surrogate mother has taken them out to have a walk, Romolina and Logan have been ready to explore and made their way over to the deep forest.  For the first time ever in BSBCC that we walk two rescued sun bear cubs and teach them the skills needed to survive in the forest They straight away started to venture, displaying wild bear behaviour!  Forest exploration  Our favourite hang time! Romolina loves to forage. She will stay in one area for a long time and becomes busy digging out all the termites, beetles and ants. The termites and ants better watch out for her! She will survey and explore the forest around her. She shows enthusiasm for her delicious food, while Logan will check on her and keep trying to distract Romolina from doing other things so that she can play with him.  Both have shown the ability to pick out natural food - termites, ants and beetles.  Romolina and Logan has always enjoyed their daily trips to the forest.  Romolina spends all of her time learning the skills she will need in the wild along with her friend  Romolina loves foraging for food  Romolina is licking out ants that traps on her body by using her long tongue.  Two cubs forage together  The forest ants and termites better watch out of Romolina!  Logan will check on her and keep want to distract Romolina from do other things so that she can play with him  It is playtime! Sometimes, Romolina will avoid playing with Logan by climbing high up into the trees. She is an arboreal little bear!  Romolina will avoid Logan from play fight!  Sometimes she enjoys spending time with Logan in wrestling play!  Romolina has a favorite tree! Up in the canopy, she will hang around and tear into the tree bark searching for tasty treats. She does not care about Logan’s appearance.  Getting as higher as she can! You have to really look to find her.  Romolina has become quite an expert in climbing  She immediately climb trees and start exploring her new home  Romolina and Logan showing their impressive climbing skills! On their daily walk, Logan will initiate play wrestling, chasing, rolling and climbing trees with Romolina, just like loving friends do!  Romolina is everything a sun bear cub should be – inquisitive, arboreal, and playful. These have been some of the BEST days of their lives - FUN!  The bears enjoy their taste of freedom. Romolina becomes more nervous when it comes to crossing the stream. The first time she discovered the stream she was unsure what to do with it and sometimes she would step back from crossing it if the water level was too high for her compared to Logan who just loves to dip in the stream.  Little Romolina slowly learn enjoys soaking in the stream  Best way to dipping in the stream!  Streamside hangs and feel the breeze with Logan! It is a delight to see how courageous they are.  Slowly she starts to learn forest skills that equipped her to survive in the wild. They are developing into strong sun bears and are doing amazingly well in the forest!  Yay! Free to explore, digging and play! Please provide them a better future and let the rescued bears live the life of freedom that was stolen by us.  “Yes, all we need is LOVE!”  Sun bear, simply amazing! |
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