Friday, April 17, 2015

Sara the Bear Has 105 Descendants

From the Bangor Daily News:

Bear cub Image Courtesy of Randy Cross/Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
 
Sara the bear and her prodigious family left an incredible impression on biologists in Maine who have been studying the animals for decades. While Sara died in 1987, seven years after first being studied by biologists, 15 of her black bear (Ursus americanus) descendants have been collared and are being tracked by biologists with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries. Now, five generations of cubs trace their lineage back to Sara. The sheer amount of cubs that have come from Sara may be partly due to abnormal longevity in the family line, according to Randy Cross, a biologist with the Department and a member of The Wildlife Society.
Read more at the Bangor Daily News.

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