Ely, Minnesota, is one of the gateways to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Canoe and kayak outfitters abound! Our purpose in going up there, however, was not to do some canoeing, but to give our camper trailer a longer outing and visit either the International Wolf Center or the North American Bear Center, or both. They are evidently proud of their wolf and bear population up there in Ely. I wonder how big a mammal you have to be to get your own center. Is there a National Marmot Center, for example? Marmots are kinda cute – I’d probably go to their center if someone decided to give them one.
For previous Minnesota meanderings, see these posts: Spam Museum, Bell Museum of Natural History, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, Fort Snelling, Great Lakes Aquarium and The National Eagle Center.
We found a nice place to park Bag End on the shore of White Iron Lake. When I say “we” you should always assume that I had nothing to do with it and we’d be slumming it in a dry river bed if I were in charge of making these arrangements. I must once again sing the praises of my husband, who diligently researches everything and makes all the plans before we go anywhere. My job is to plan the victuals, a lot easier now that it’s just the two of us.
Our first day in Ely after arriving the night before, we realized that the Wolf Center wasn’t open, so the decision was easy: let’s go to the Bear Center! For those of you who are interested in this kind of detail, it cost us $17 each to get in, after getting a $1.00 discount (each) for being seniors.
We knew there would be a short tour of some sort at 11:00 so we just wandered around looking at the displays, photos and videos for a bit. Suddenly an announcement was made on the loud speaker: “Attention visitors! Lucky is outside the observation windows for those of you who would like to see him.” Many of us made a beeline for those windows immediately. Lucky did not disappoint us. He certainly did not mind a group of people staring at him while he rooted around for food. I took some photos from inside the center and then headed up to the outside balcony for more unimpeded access.
The center currently houses three bears, two females (Holly and Tasha) and one lucky male named Lucky. Well, maybe not so lucky because Lucky had been “fixed.” Not long after our personal encounter with Lucky, we were summoned to the observation room again where one of the center’s interns, Hailey, said she’d be giving us a tour.
I thought this meant we’d be hoofing it all around the center, but we merely went outside and a short distance to the area where Tasha was hanging out, Lucky having made himself scarce. Apparently Holly had already gone into hibernation, which seemed odd, considering it was still so warm out. Well, Holly takes her marching orders from the Lord God, so ours is not to question why.
Hailey was a fount of information. She kept up a steady patter while another staff member put peanuts on the bars of the enclosure for Tasha.
The blue jays there are bold rascals, constantly trying to get to the peanuts before Tasha did, which made for some exciting moments. Exciting for us – Tasha was not bothered at all by the competition.
Bears have a way of eating peanuts and shucking them inside their mouths with something called a “diastama.” It was a very efficient system – she’d take a peanut and seconds later, the shell would come spewing out while she ate the nut.
Okay, here’s some of the general information we learned while we were watching Tasha do her thing. The center contains about 2.5 acres. The man-made pond was installed to help the bears cool off since they tend to overheat during the summer. The black bear’s diet is about 90% vegetation and only 10% animal protein, like eggs, insect larvae and an occasional fawn (that escalated quickly, didn’t it?). Lucky is a bit like a temperamental toddler when it comes to eggs, apparently. If they give him one and the shell is already cracked, he throws a fit and won’t eat it. Also – and this will shock all of you who got your bear information from Winnie the Pooh – when bears go after bee hives, they’re really only interested in the insect larva, not the honey. NOT THE HONEY! I’m still recovering from that bit of information.
Lucky is also a problem child when it comes to Tasha. Tasha he no likee. (I’m sorry for those of you who haven’t watched “The Emperor’s New Groove” and don’t get the reference to “cheese me no likee.” If you haven’t watched it, maybe you should. Yes, you should definitely watch it! But there are no bears in it, so let me get back to the subject at hand). The story was told about a time that Lucky was irked with Tasha and chased her up a tree. He then circled the tree for 30 HOURS before finally giving up. Lucky has anger issues, apparently.
When the show was over, we all made our way back into the center where some of us (a much smaller, elite, and devoted group) went back to the observation room for “Critter Time.” I had this idea that Critter Time would be like watching Dickon from The Secret Garden strolling in with his bevy of beasts, but in reality, “Dickon” was a young whippersnapper named Brandon who came strolling in with a little painted turtle named Tuck. Mental adjustments were made.
Since only one in one million painted turtles makes it to adulthood, Tuck was one of the hearty ones who beat the odds. And now that he lives at the center, his life is just a gravy train of food, safety and security. Brandon offered to let others in the group hold Tuck, but only one fellow took him up on the offer.
We spent about an hour at the center after that, reading the information, looking at the photos, and watching many of the little videos that were on display throughout.
A man named Lynn Rogers (no relation – ha ha!) was a bear researcher who founded the North American Bear Center and “is credited with quadrupling Minnesota’s black bear population, preserving Minnesota’s last 2% of white pines, and educating millions of people worldwide.” So Mister Rogers has been very busy indeed. I don’t believe he’s the same guy that had the show on public TV, but I can’t say for sure. I mean, have they ever been seen in the same room together? Who’s to say that the TV Mister Rogers didn’t have a side hustle with researching black bears?
We learned many interesting things and it was a worthwhile place to stop in and visit. We never made it to the International Wolf Center, though. Maybe next time…
P.S. We ended up doing some canoeing, too. Ah, what a life!
Only one blog post in a million survives until the next morning.
Lynniebeemuseoday 
Aww, what a cuddly bear. that Lucky is!
Thank you so much for the education on so many levels!
Winnie The Pooh has been hunting for the wrong food. Perhaps if he was looking for the larva, he wouldn’t have gotten his head stuck in the honey jar!
Mr. Rogers and his (or their) many roles in life.
Painted Turtles only one in a Million?? Call US Lucky! We had a painted turtle one year given us one summer who was rescued from trying to cross the road (why was the turtle trying to cross the road?). We named him Caspian (yes, that Caspian), only to find that SHE laid eggs later in the Summer! The next year another Painted Turtle was walking up our driveway (there were no sources of water near us except a small creek at the bottom of the hill). We adopted him as well. We named him Caspian II. He didn’t lay any eggs so either he really was male, or else he wasn’t an adult yet. OK, so we may have only adopted ONE adult Painted Turtle.
The many things you taught me when you visited the Bear Center!
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So many things to enjoy about your reaction to this blog post! I love that you called your painted turtles Caspian and Caspian II. So very Narnian! Yes, poor Pooh could have avoided many troubles had he only known that honey was not the food he really needed. This is probably a good analogy for my life, too. 😊
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