BobbyO Posted March 28, 2017 SSR Team Posted March 28, 2017 Been thinking about this recently, what do you think/know they do to conceal them, their noises and all round stimulation, and keep them safe ? Not interested in non knower/believer comments, they'll offer nothing constructive to the topic of this thread. Fire at will.
SWWASAS Posted March 28, 2017 BFF Patron Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Their birthing areas and nursery areas have to be very remote or in caves. Otherwise I cannot imagine how they would keep the infant quiet from nearby humans. I have always claimed that a female with infant is must vulnerable if the infant makes any noise at all. Perhaps we could learn something from the reclusive larger apes in their natural habitat. My juvenile was close to 3 feet tall but apparently being carried. That is very ape like behavior. Maybe infants just know they need to be quiet when Mom reacts in certain ways. At a certain age Mom could just let them climb a tree while she goes off and does something else. I suspect the smaller the juvenile the more protective Mom is. Edited March 28, 2017 by SWWASAS
Sasfooty Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 The females take turns baby sitting for each other. They have safe places where they can kind of turn them loose & not have to watch them too closely, such as in habituators' back yards. Sometimes, some of the older kids watch the younger ones, too, but they aren't very reliable & mischief happens. When untrusted humans are around, they know how to hide & be quiet, the same as the young of any other wild thing. 2
SWWASAS Posted March 28, 2017 BFF Patron Posted March 28, 2017 Just had a thought. Maybe some of the vocalizations heard are female BF in labor? Loud, sound like a woman getting killed, rare, repeat, etc? That woman getting killed scream is fairly often reported.
MIB Posted March 28, 2017 Moderator Posted March 28, 2017 Good question, BobbyO. I hadn't thought about it a lot. I assume there is some level of noise / chaos. Not proven, but ... reasonable. I suspect a 2-3 layer approach. First, I suspect areas are chosen that minimize how far sound carries. This will only be partially successful but it will reduce the distance that has to be monitored. Second, my guess is the sentinels / watchers monitor the area sound would carry to, plus a little, and escort / herd intruding humans out of the area if possible. Third, again, a guess: if some stubborn human refuses to be herded / escorted, most likely the same sentinels / watchers would try to move the group out of their path. It makes a level of sense at least in the areas I roam and would, if correct, account for things I've observed pretty well. I think the answer depends on whether there is year-around birthing or whether it is seasonal. All we have are assumptions in that regard. MIB
BobbyO Posted March 28, 2017 SSR Team Author Posted March 28, 2017 Good answers, thanks Guys. It's the noises that the young would make and how they'd be concealed in the main that i'm most interesting in i guess.. Good shout with the tree's SWWA.
gigantor Posted March 28, 2017 Admin Posted March 28, 2017 I agree with Sasfooty... other young animals know instinctively to be quiet when danger is about, its wired in their brains. I watched a nature special the other night "growing wild". The sage grouse, deer and most other animals that are exposed to predators, just know to hide, stay still and be quiet on command from the mother. They have this instinct from birth, no training required and rely on their ability to blend in with their surroundings.
Sasfooty Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 There were some females with young ones that stayed around here at night for a few years & the kids made very little noise. They had a food fight on the front porch one night, involving a bucket of scraps from cleaning fish . There was a lot of bumping & knocking things around & fish carcasses flung everywhere, but I never heard so much as a squeak from them during the fight. Another time I saw 4 or 5 playing in the yard on a moonlight night. They looked like a bunch of big puppies rolling & tumbling around until one ran to a tree & went up it like a squirrel almost to the first limb. The rest followed it & then they went sliding back down. Sometimes they would knock on an aluminum gate in the pasture with sticks & there might be a few giggles, but a sharp "ehkkkkk" would stop it instantly. I have heard of a few people that heard a new baby crying, but it seemed that it was on purpose that they were allowed to hear it. 2
norseman Posted March 29, 2017 Admin Posted March 29, 2017 7 hours ago, gigantor said: I agree with Sasfooty... other young animals know instinctively to be quiet when danger is about, its wired in their brains. I watched a nature special the other night "growing wild". The sage grouse, deer and most other animals that are exposed to predators, just know to hide, stay still and be quiet on command from the mother. They have this instinct from birth, no training required and rely on their ability to blend in with their surroundings. If wild young are habituated to humans they lose that instinct all together. My friend raised a fawn whose mother had been hit by a car. This fawn thought it was a human....it ate in the house and slept in his bed. When it was older it would play football with us kids, chasing the football around kicking at it and would tackle you if you had the ball. It was a male and when it turned into a young adult it answered the call of the wild. And visits came less frequent. After hunting season one year it never returned. I'm sure it licked the end of the rifle barrel......
BobbyO Posted March 29, 2017 SSR Team Author Posted March 29, 2017 Yep, and yet they apparently fight on Sasfooty's porch.
ioyza Posted March 29, 2017 Posted March 29, 2017 I think one of my closer encounters had to do with a juvenile. This is just an interpretation of the events of course, but it does make sense. I was coming down the trail at a section with a steep cliff on the other side of a small ravine when I heard a "woo!" from further down the trail. I went "woo!" back and received an immediate response from just up the cliff to my right that sounded basically like a chimp screech/squawking racket. I kind of smiled and sat down on the trail to see what would happen. Pretty soon I heard a soft panting that I thought at first was a dog coming up the trail towards me, but as the panting got louder and no dog appeared, I realized that was not the case. It got louder, and louder, until I could picture the massive size of the chest of the breather. It was unnerving and a little tense, but I remember having the conscious thought "I know what this is and what it's trying to tell me, I should take the hint." I got up and started walking down the trail, and the huffing stopped immediately. I think this was just a case of a young one getting a little too surprised or excited by my response woo, and mom or dad had to give me a little strong encouragement to move along. It's interesting to me how controlled that encouragement was; mom or dad could've easily issued a low, menacing growl, and I would've got on my feet a lot quicker. The way the huffing increased gradually gave me a chance to get the message with the minimum amount of force or aggression. In other words, they quickly found my lowest threshold for saying "ok, got it, leaving." 2
SWWASAS Posted March 29, 2017 BFF Patron Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) Ioyza: Interesting about the huffing. Were you in an area where the BF were familiar with you? I may have experienced that huffing following a couple of chest slapping events after I accidentally peed with one watching. It started raining about then and I headed back to my truck, and just when I was loading up my truck, heard what sounded like huffing or chuffing. That has been attributed by others as raven flight but I am not so sure because of no azimuth change. Anyway I was obviously leaving but the producer of the sound perhaps decided I needed encouragement to leave. I had put my digital recorder in my truck and was just sitting there with the door open hoping to get some sound recorded. I suppose in BF behavior huffing might be one level of aggressive behavior down from chest slapping. Would the next level up be chest slapping and advancing in plain sight like a gorilla charge? Breaking trees or large branches off is somewhere in the mix of levels of aggression. I think you are in serious trouble if a BF shows itself when doing aggressive behavior. Perhaps in its mind, would it only break visual avoidance protocol when it was considering killing you? In that case, what difference would it make if you see it, if it intends to kill?. Most apex predators, including man, attempt to stay out of sight of their prey until they move in for the kill. Cherry thought to consider if you ever see a BF advancing towards you. Edited March 29, 2017 by SWWASAS
Wolfjewel Posted March 29, 2017 Posted March 29, 2017 Has anyone on the forum been advanced upon by an aggressive BF (that they are willing to talk about)?
spacemonkeymafia Posted March 30, 2017 Posted March 30, 2017 Just let me say, if you're near some young ones, they WILL persuade you to vacate the area. 1
SWWASAS Posted March 30, 2017 BFF Patron Posted March 30, 2017 There is an area NE of Granite Falls in Washington State where several fairly recent BFRO reports detail being chased out of the area by a BF that shows itself. I don't think we have any Forum members that have experienced that there. If I can round up some more self designated "bait", I would love to mount an expedition into that area. Not a situation I want to go into solo. Not sure if the BF has a mental issue or just hates humans. Could be either.
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