Bears - Sounds Wild
Bear Rub Tree
Audio
Download Episode: Bear Rub Tree (MP3 file 2,392 kB)
Transcript
On a calm summer evening the Southeast Alaska forest is warm and lush. Beneath the canopy of towering coastal spruce and hemlock trees, a narrow trail winds through the green expanse of ankle-high groundcover carpeting the forest floor. It’s almost nine but it feels like late afternoon. We come across an odd sight in a clearing: a patch of forest is trampled flat, the vegetation squashed and broken, with leaves and stems ground into the spruce needles. I see lots of tracks, cloven hooves of deer and round pads of bear paws, but this is not a kill site or a battle scene. A limbless hemlock four-inches in diameter in the middle like a pole, and the bark is dark with oily stains. There are clumps and strands of black hair and fur snagged in the bark, and deep scratches ooze pitch. This is a bear rub tree. A neighborhood signpost where bears leave their scent, rubbing their sides and necks, and standing tall to rub their backs and shoulders. Oddly, these rub tree sites attract other animals like marten, deer and porcupines, who also check out the scent messages left by their forest neighbors.