She's 37 years old now, the oldest known wild bear anywhere in North America, ever. Known as No. 56 to Minnesota bear researchers, she's living up near Marcell, says Dave Garshelis, leader of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' bear project.
"We hope nobody shoots her," Garshelis said.
Like 34 other bears the DNR monitors, this old sow wears a radio collar. Responding to its signals, bear researchers can occasionally look in on No. 56, perhaps check her in her winter den and keep track of her movements the rest of the year.
The DNR has asked hunters to avoid shooting radio-collared bears, both its own and those of other researchers. It is not illegal to shoot a collared bear, but researchers ask hunters to pass up shooting these bears that are important to ongoing research projects. The bears are marked with large, colorful ear tags or colorful streamers and should be easy to spot.
No. 56 was first collared in 1981 at age 7, Garshelis said. She was part of a population study that is now mostly complete, but the DNR still is learning things about her.
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She had her last cubs at age 26. A bear's female offspring, over the years, usually will set up their own territories surrounding their mother's territory. In a sense, an old female such as No. 56 is buffered by her descendants, who are likely to be friendly toward her.
Now, however, all but one of No. 56's offspring have been shot, Garshelis said.
"Nearly everyone who's living around her now is a non-relative. It may be a hostile environment," he said.
Lately, the movements of No. 56 have been away from her traditional territory, her stable home range. This year, she shifted to a different area and is spending more time along roads.
"We're suspecting she got so old that she got kicked out of the normal place she lived," Garshelis said. "She may be living along the road because that's where other bears don't want to live. Probably other females would kick her out."
Before No. 56 advanced to such old age, the oldest wild bear Garshelis had been aware of was 33. In examining 55,000 teeth from hunter-killed bears, only three bears have been older than 30, Garshelis said.
