Bears VI

Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is [so vast and profound as to be] unsearchable [incomprehensible to man]. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty and remarkable acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. – Psalm 145:3-5 AMP

Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. – Job 42:1-3 NIV

The above picture of a black bear was taken by my trail cam in mid-May. I’d not seen such a defined line in the shedding of the fur of a bear’s winter coat for the upcoming warmer months of summer. To help with their bodies’ temperature regulation, these bears shed their thick winter fur in the late spring or early summer. This process is called molting, and is a response by the bear to increased daylight (photoperiod) more than just an increase in air temperature.

As the short winter days transition into times of longer daylight, there are specific changes that take place in the bear’s hormones. Most notably, there is a decrease in melatonin and an increase in prolactin. This starts the shedding of dense underfur and longer guard hairs, which are crucial for insulation during hibernation in the winter.

As you can see in the above picture, this bear has shed a lot of its winter coat from its back end. The shorter fur you see in that area lies flat against its body. This design helps to remove the bear’s internal heat, rather than trap it for insulation as per the winter months.

Bears accelerate the molting process by rubbing against rough objects like tree bark or stumps to remove the matted winter fur. It is the hormonal changes from increasing daylight that signals the bear to rub off its thick winter coat.

A Dual Purpose

This tree-rubbing serves another purpose. It leaves scent on the tree to tell other bears of its gender, reproductive status, territory boundaries, etc. (Sort of like social networking without all the electronics we humans tend to use!).

Black bears do not have sweat glands to help cool down, so they have to rely on molting their thick winter fur, panting, and staying near water or in the shade. (Brown and Polar Bears do have sweat glands on their paws, but not for cooling purposes – these glands serve a similar purpose to the tree-rubbing that black bears use in molting – for leaving scent to communicate to other bears of their gender, age, reproductive status, etc.).

The above Scripture, along with many others in the Bible, tells us that God has all the incredible wisdom to put everything in creation together. And not only that, but He makes all the complexity of creation function day by day and season by season as well.

When God asked Job if he could understand how He could create and sustain all things, Job could only reply that all of this was far too wonderful and complex for him to understand. And God didn’t even mention about how black bears grow their thick fur in the cold months and shed it in the hot ones!

Amazing creation we live in. Designed by an Amazing Creator.

If you’ve never understood how you can have your own personal relationship with this Creator, please see Got God?

Hope you have a great day. And keep an eye out for those bears, eh!