from BBC: The man who walks with bears

The man who walks with bears

…For 43 years, Professor Lynn Rogers has studied wild bears, walking and playing with them, gaining amazing insights into their behaviour. His studies reveal the bears as peaceful, playful creatures, which even hum when they are content. The new understanding of wild black bear (Ursus americanus) behaviour unveiled by Prof Roger's research is depicted by the BBC natural history programme Natural World: "Bearwalker of the Northwoods". For the first half of my life, I struggled to control my fear of bears. But bears like June have taught me that they are not the ferocious animals we once thought Professor Lynn Rogers As part of the programme, the BBC film crew working with Prof Rogers recorded wild black bears mating for the first time. When the male bear mounts the female, his body shakes in a behaviour that Prof Rogers calls "fluttering". Contrary to popular opinion, mating bears aren't particularly dangerous. In all his years observing the black bears, he has never been threatened by a black bear that is attempting to attract or mate with another. Following in a black bear's footsteps In fact, he has never been attacked by any bear.…