ESTONIA – A WILD WINTER NURSERY

In this week’s edition:

Seal pups being born on an icy coastline: SPECIAL TRIP OFFER

Tourism Survey: SPECIAL OFFER – Get a free, guided day-trip in Soomaa National Park

Bear cubs being born in a snowy forest

SEAL PUPS BORN ON AN ICY COASTLINE

A colony of Grey Seals calls the small Estonian coastal island of Vilsandi home and over the last few weeks a new generation of white fluffy seal pups have been born. From now until the end of March is a great time to see them while the are nursing. Grey Seals are intelligent, curious animals and adults can weigh up to 300kg. The population of Grey Seals in the Baltic Sea is estimated to be around 4000 and growing. The seals of the Baltic Sea are actually an isolated population and form the subspecies Halichoerus grypus balticus.

SPECIAL TRIP OFFER- Pärimusmatkad Heritage Tours, nature tour specialists on the Island of Saaremaa are offering special seal tours to see the fluffy white seal pups with their mothers resting on the islets of Vilsandi. For Wild Estonia Weekly subscribers, this tour is available for a discounted price of 20 EURO. The tours are available until the end of March and leave every Sunday at midday from Loona Manor in the centre of Vilsandi National Park (minumum of 2 people). Tours are also available at other times on request. Price includes multilingual guide, skis, a local souvenir and a light picnic.

Photo of Seal Tour

Maarika from Pärimusmatkad wrote to Wild Estonia Weekly recently about one of their early season seal watching trips. This is some of what she had to say:

“Skiing on the snowy baltic sea coastline is really very special…and there are the grey seals! They gather on an islet to give birth to their puppies…there were lots of mums rolling around and sun bathing. We also saw a white tailed eagle and admired Silurian fossils on the open bank line.”

For more information about Grey Seal Tours in Vilsandi National Park, please contact Pärimusmatkad Heritage Tours

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BEAR CUBS BORN IN THE SNOWY FOREST

(Information sourced from www.looduskalender.ee and www.wikipedia.com)

Brown Bear – Piilse Brown Bear hide. June 2009. Photo by Jarek Jõepera

Despite being in the midst of their hibernation and temperatures in Estonia this week getting to around -25oC, female Brown Bears (Ursus arctos will be giving birth to their cubs in around 60 forest dens across the country this month.

The Brown Bear (Estonian: pruunkaru) mating season is from late May to early July. Being serially monogamous, bears will remain with the same mate from several days to a couple of weeks. Females mature sexually between the age of 5 and 7 years, while males usually mate a few years later, when they are large and strong enough to successfully compete with other males for mating rights.

Males, however, take no part in raising their cubs – parenting is left entirely to the females. Through the process of delayed implantation, a female’s fertilized egg divides and floats freely in the uterus for six months. During winter dormancy, the fetus attaches to the uterine wall. The cubs are born eight weeks later, while the mother sleeps. If the mother does not gain enough weight to survive through the winter, the embryo does not implant and is reabsorbed into the body. The average litter has one to four cubs, usually two.

There have been cases of bears with five cubs, although females sometimes adopt strange cubs. Older females tend to give birth to larger litters. The size of a litter also depends on factors such as geographic location and food supply. At birth, the cubs are blind, toothless, hairless, and weigh less than 450 grams (1.0 lb). The milk of the female bear, with 30% fat, has a high nutritional value and energy content.

At a few weeks, the ears of the bear cubs open, and they will see at about one month. They feed on their mother’s milk until spring or even early summer, depending on climatic conditions. At this time, the cubs weigh 7 to 9 kilograms (15 to 20 lb) and the mother bear, now quite awake, usually judges it to be a suitable time to leave the den. At that time the bear cubs must be mature enough to be able to accompany their mother.

NatourEst, one of Estonia’s best nature and wildlife tour operators, offer special Brown Bear watching and tracking tours from the end of April to the end of June. For more information please visit the NatourEst website.