We all know the wild bear poops in the woods, but does he poop in his bed?
I stumbled upon this old bear bed beside a large ponderosa pine in steep canyon country.
Ponderosa pines sometimes have a distinctive elevated berm of shed bark around the trunk, and disturbance of the zone is easy to see.
This tree had such a disturbance -- a clear round depression the size of small bear right next to the trunk.
Normally a bear bed looks like someone tried to dig a hole with a rototiller.
This bed wasn't fresh because it was covered with pine needles.
Fred wouldn't lie down in it, so I put my rucksack there for scale.
Cool enough. I was pleased with the find.
As I stepped away from it however, I exposed a well composted bear pie under the needles.
It seems the bear hung its hiney just over the rim of the bed, and therefore came close to committing the unforgivable -- pooping in bed.
