Take Advantage of the Extraordinary Opportunity to Watch the Intriguing Behavior of Grizzly Bears
The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is home to several gray wolves that were born in captivity and are unable to live in the wild. When their previous facilities no longer had space to accommodate them, the GWDC provided them with a permanent home. Here, the wolves offer visitors an up-close look at their normally secretive lives.
The wolves’ habitat is designed to encourage natural behaviors and provide a comfortable, stimulating environment. Tall grasses, trees, logs and a pond with a waterfall create a diverse landscape for the wolves to explore. Throughout the day, animal keepers provide enrichment by hiding bones, introducing scents and creating new opportunities for the wolves to investigate their surroundings. During the summer months, live trout are added to the pond, giving the wolves another opportunity to engage their natural curiosity and hunting instincts. They also receive a natural, species-appropriate diet that includes elk and deer meat, hides and bones - much of which is generously provided by local hunters and meat processors.
By watching these wolves explore and respond to their environment, visitors can gain a deeper understanding of their pack dynamics, intelligence and the way they communicate.
MEET THE BEARS...
BO
As a four-year-old male grizzly bear, Bo gained access to human food sources near West Yellowstone, Montana in 2020. Beginning with garbage left out at cabins near Rainbow Point Campground, he became confident enough to explore the campground itself. There he fed on food left unsecured by campers, including items from a cooler, in the back of a pickup truck, and inside an unoccupied tent. His boldness escalated to the point that he actually climbed on an occupied vehicle at the campground. After unsuccessful attempts to haze him out of the area, State and Federal Bear Managers decided he could not remain in the wild. On July 6th, we welcomed him to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center (GWDC) as an alternative to a lethal removal. GWDC Staff gave him the name Bo, after RainBOw Point Campground.
CORAM
On September 6th 2011, the Center welcomed a new resident bear, Coram a three-year-old grizzly who unfortunately became habituated to human foods and garbage. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 1, Coram began boldly walking through town and finding non-natural foods from residential areas. He didn’t forget that easy food source. Once he and his family left the den in the spring, he headed right into town again. He was trapped and moved for the second time in May. More reports came in about a bear walking up onto people’s porches and getting into dog food. When it turned out that the three year old bear had been trapped in town a third time, wildlife managers had to face the fact that this bear was not going to learn and would have to be removed from the wild. Coram adapted extremely well.
CONDI
Condi was born in February 2019. She and her sister Seeley arrived at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in the fall of 2019. They were relocated from the Seeley-Swan Valley in western Montana after their mother had to be euthanized due to food conditioning. Condi adjusted well to life at the Center and interacts with Seeley in the habitat daily.
SEELEY
Seeley and Condi, like their mother, learned to look for unsecured human food in rural neighborhoods. Seeley acclimated well to being at the Center and likes to wrestle with her sister, enjoys a variety of foods and loves the habitat pond.
NAKINA
Nakina and Kobuk (who passed away in 2017) were brother and sister who were actually from a litter of triplets. Their mother and brother were shot and killed by a resident near the community of Delta Junction, Alaska. Nakina came to live at the GWDC in 1998. She will entertain herself searching out hides, fish and bones. Being from the interior part of Alaska, Nakina is about the same size as Yellowstone bears with weights between 450 and 600 pounds.
SPIRIT
In 2002, Spirit became the first Montana Grizzly to be placed at the Center. As a six-year-old, mother of two, Spirit was known by Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists as “Easy” because of her easygoing personality and was often seen roaming the beach or golf course near the community in Whitefish, Montana. She obtained human food and was passing on this behavior to her cubs. Although she was never involved with aggressive tendencies toward humans, it was only a matter of time before a dangerous situation became a reality. Spirit was relocated five times, but continued to return to the golf community even after intensive aversive conditioning. Officials decided to place one of her cubs at the Denver Zoo after another one of her cubs was killed by a car. At the same time, it was decided that it was time to remove Spirit from wild as well.
