From December 23rd, a nature tour will begin where you can walk around the park on snowshoes. First, we will proceed on the bear watching bus course. What you can see above is the promenade course. How do the bears look up? That's what I thought when I started. We found a tree whose skin was peeling off due to excessive marking (back rubbing)☆ Even though there was 50 cm of snow on the ground, there were claw marks on the head of a male staff member. The real pleasure of nature tours is being able to see things so close. And the hair that fell out during marking (back rubbing) is still there. I wonder what brown bear fur feels like. This is the content of the tour. You won't be able to see the brown bears who are huddled in winter, but if you can feel the brown bears and walk on the fluffy snow, even if you can't ski or snowboard, you can still walk energetically. Snowshoe rental is included, so we look forward to your participation! Bear Mountain Forest Nature Tour Details Click here for last year's schedule

Today I went to see the inside of Bear Mountain for the first time in a while. As expected, the park was covered in deep snow, making it difficult to walk without snowshoes. I mainly walked along the promenade, and there was about 3cm of snow above my knees, so the view from that point of view was completely different from the summer season. (It's different in the first place since it's winter, but...) The fall prevention net installed on the promenade seems to even prevent snow from falling, and there was a thick layer of snow on top of the net, and if we didn't remove it, it would put a heavy burden on the fall prevention net, so today we worked hard to remove the snow. I took the opportunity to upload a photo of the promenade covered in snow, which is hard to see (^^)

It's mid-December, and Bear Mountain is completely covered in deep snow. It feels like there's a lot of snow this year, probably because there wasn't much snow last year. In fact, it is said that there is a relationship between snow and winter confinement, and depending on the depth of the snow, some brown bears dig to find and eat food, while others calmly burrow into a hole to reduce energy consumption and wait for spring, rather than moving around tirelessly to search for food. Every morning, there is a thick layer of snow on the roof of the animal enclosure due to the constant snowfall, but removing this snow is actually very important.If the snow is not removed properly, the body heat of the bears inside the enclosure will melt the snow on the roof, dripping into the rooms where the bears are sleeping, dampening the straw that the bears sleep on during winter confinement, and potentially robbing the bears, whose metabolism has slowed, of their body heat. Therefore, when the snow accumulates every day, the keepers thoroughly remove the snow before working on the animal housing, but this year, the pace of snowfall has been fast, and the snow that was falling from the roof has already piled up and reached the roof of the animal housing (><) Last year, I think it only reached this point around February, so I'm looking forward to seeing how far it will go this year (^.^)! [Breeding: Shigematsu]

Today is the long-awaited feeding day for the Bear Mt bears. After two days of fasting, the hungry bears were banging on the door as if to say, ``Feed me quickly!'' Including today's feeding, there are only two more feedings this year. After finishing the last feeding of the year on the 18th, we are finally heading into winter in earnest. Depending on the individual, their metabolism may have slowed down considerably, and some may already be switching to winter mode. I think you can see various changes in the bears' movements from here, so be sure to check out the blog! This is Hinata waiting in a corridor called a chute outside the room to clean the room (^^) [Raising: Shigematsu]

I have finally entered the final phase of my planned fasting in preparation for winter confinement. By gradually reducing the amount of food fed and adding days of fasting, we have been guiding the bears towards winter confinement, but due to the recent cold weather, the bears at Bear Mt' are also well into winter confinement. It seems that we will be completely stuck in winter around the year-end and New Year holidays. Moko Sara is feeling even better now that the snow has piled up (^^) You can meet her in front of the ticket office at the ski resort! This is Kouji with his big butt facing us. What are you thinking when you put your face on the door leading outside? [Breeding: Shigematsu]

We are halfway through the planned fasting for winter, and the bears are relatively obedient to their rooms after being fed for the first time in two days. Next, after two days of fasting, there will be a feeding day, where we will further reduce the amount of food they eat to get their bodies used to winter confinement. Bears in winter have lower metabolism and slower movement than in summer or autumn. They switch to a so-called energy-saving mode, sustaining themselves with the nutrients they stored in the fall, and quietly survive the winter. At the moment, Inuo and Shingo (both 28 years old, which is quite old for a bear) are starting to move a lot slower, and I'm a little worried that they'll fall asleep at any moment (><) Today, I'm going to take a picture of Kouji, who ate his first food in two days in the blink of an eye, and for some reason is staring at one thing in a daze. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　[Breeding: Shigematsu]

Today is a painful fasting day for bears! In order to clean the room, you have to leave the room once to clean it, so you have to come out, but when you come out, at the end, there is no food in the room after cleaning, so it is difficult to enter the room (><) Especially Hirotake and Kouta (parents and children together...) joiners are stubborn and do not enter easily. For the time being, I put a little bait ~, but I glance at the entrance and pass by as if to say, "That's not enough~!" It seems that the struggle between these bears and keepers will continue for about this year (><) I was trying to upload it to my blog and brought my camera, but I completely forgot to take it, so today there was a healing photo of a whimsical joiner in the summer, so I uploaded it. 【Breeding: Shigematsu】

Thanks to the sudden cooling over the past few days, the area has become completely wintery. The bears of Bear Mountain have also entered a planned fast in stages from today in preparation for winter. From the latter half of November, the amount of feeding is gradually reduced, and in December, feeding days and fasting days are alternated, and fasting days are gradually increased, and finally complete fasting is entered and winter is headed for. That's why yesterday was actually the last time to release into the sub-paddock! I had completely forgotten to take a picture of these bears' last outdoor brave appearance of the year (><;) It seems that we will be able to deliver bears walking outside around March next year. But winter is still ahead! I will do my best to report on the habits of bears that are different from when they are walking around energetically outside, so please (^^) come and see the blog. This afternoon, we also conducted a patrol inspection of the park. Unlike the business period, the snow is piling up lightly. 【Breeding: Shigematsu】

Today is the end of November, but the young bears are still moving around! When I was on the roof of the animal house, I could hear the fugafuga, so when I went to see it, Hirotake was (^^) appealing hard from the ventilation opening. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Long time no see, everyone!! One month has passed since Bear Mountain closed. What were the bears doing during that time? In preparation for winter, we measured weight and fat thickness (thickness of subcutaneous fat). Brown bears eat a lot in the fall in preparation for winter, and have to accumulate fat in their bodies to survive the winter. Therefore, it is very important to look at the fat thickness in order to measure how much fat you have stored. Bear Mountain bears have judged that an average thickness of 4 to 3 cm is enough to survive the winter. If the fat thickness does not reach the average thickness at that time, they will be given nutritious food to store fat by late November, when preparations begin in earnest. By the way, the joiner in this photo boasted an amazing thickness of 7 cm. You're quite chubby (laughs) And as you may have noticed from the photo, there was snow on Bear Mountain, albeit still thin! As expected, brown bears are resistant to cold! Even if the snow is piled up, it looks humble. Would you rather enjoy seeing snow for the first time in a long time? 【Breeding: Nagata】