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My Visit to Banff National Park

1. Where are you going on your trip?
2. What activities are you going to do?
3. What are you most excited about seeing?

WHAT COLOURS?

Clues in this booklet will help you find these plants and animals out in the park. You can observe what colours they are in real life, use a guidebook, or make up your own colours!

Trembling Aspen Populus tremuloides You may find claw marks like this, made by a climbing bear.

Raven Corvus corax If you see or hear a large gathering of ravens, a dead animal may be nearby - so stay away! A bear could also be attracted to such a valuable food source.

Sweetvetch Hedysarum boreale Bears dig up and eat the carrot like roots of this plant in early summer.

Glacier lily Erythronium grandiflorum Grizzlies dig up and munch on the bulbs of this yellow alpine flower.

Help This Bear Find the Buffaloberry Bush

Fact:  Buffaloberries are a very important food source for bears in the Rocky Mountains.

Buffaloberry Shepherdia canadensis In August, bears may lap up 200,000 red or orange) buffaloberries a day!

Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Bears also lick up the little red berries of this tiny plant.

On My Trip Through Banff National Park I Saw…

(You can find drawings of all these animals in this booklet.)

BUT...I respected their wildness and did not get too close.

Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus
If you hear a sound like a miniature chain saw, it could be a red squirrel trying to warn you away from its territory. Can you find a squirrel collecting or eating some of its favourite foods: spruce cones, buds, or mushrooms?

Elk Cervus elaphus
Elk like the same kinds of habitat that bears like. Look for them in open, sunny places with lots of green things to eat: grasses, leafy plants, shrubs, and buds.

Black-Billed Magpie Pica pica
Magpies are one of nature’s many recyclers. They help clean up carcasses (dead animals) and eat bugs that live on wild animals or in animal scat.

Mountain Goat Oreamnos americanus
Usually all you see of this Rocky Mountain climber are a few fluffy white dots on high mountain cliffs. But sometimes goats will come lower to visit natural salt licks.

Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis
Sheep are also great climbers, but spend more time in the lower valleys than goats. They are light brown with a whiter rump patch. Sheep protect themselves from becoming a wolf's dinner by living in groups and staying near escape cliffs - where wolves can't follow.

Timber Wolf Canis lupus
Banff's wolves may be grey, or black, or white. There are only a few dozen wolves in all of Banff National Park.

If you spot any bears, cougars, wolves, lynx, mountain goats or wolverines, or if you observe any unusual behaviour during your visit to Banff National Park, please report your sighting to the Banff Warden Office at 762-1470.

Things You Should Do Before You Go Hiking

Visit the Information Centre and the trailhead kiosk to learn about any wildlife warnings or closures.
Bring extra clothing, sunscreen, bug spray, snacks and water. Bear spray is also good to have, if you know how to use it properly.
Bring along lots of family or friends, and plan to stay close. Groups of 4-6 people that hike close together (and make noise) are less likely to have a dangerous bear encounter on the trail.

Top 10 Trail Tips

Choose the correct word from the list below to complete each sentence.

10. Always stay _______________ to the other people in your group.

9. __________ songs, clap your hands, and make ________ to let bears know you are coming, so they can get out of your way.

8. Use your __________ so you don't get lost.

7. Never ___________ any wild animals, not even birds and squirrels, and especially not bears!

6. Learn about wild animals by _______________________ their natural behaviour without changing it: What are they doing? Can you guess why?

5. Look for fresh bear ___________ such as diggings, tracks, or droppings.

4. Keep the park beautiful and healthy: stay on the ___________, and don't pick the ___________________.

3. If you know there is a _____________ in the area, find somewhere else to go.

2. Use _____________________ to watch wildlife from a safe distance.

1. If you come across a bear on the trail, back away slowly and calmly - don't ________.

feed - noise - close - flowers - sing - observing - signs - binoculars - map - bear - run - trail

Bear Signs

Scat

Depending on what the bear has been eating, bear droppings may look like:

• large dog plops full of chewed up rope (plant stems and roots)
• as above, but full of hair (animals)
• sloppy piles full of red berries (buffaloberries)

Diggings

If you find patches of torn up meadow, a bear has probably been eating roots there.

Q: Why do grizzlies have such big claws and shoulder hump muscles?

A: All the better to dig with!

Bear Sign Search

Read through the paragraph and find the BOLD words in the word search.

Look for BEAR SIGNS

Take a look at the LANDSCAPE around you. Can you find any good bear HABITAT - places where bears might like to hang out? OPEN areas like AVALANCHE PATHS and MEADOWS are places where bears could be looking for food. Observe these places from AFAR and IMAGINE what the bears might be eating (hint: there are many drawings of bear foods in this booklet).

In the spring, when there is still snow on the mountain tops, hungry bears find fresh green plants in the VALLEY BOTTOMS. In summer, some move up the mountain sides to feed in the ALPINE meadows. In August bears may seek out BUFFALOBERRY bushes, which grow best in SUNNY places in the valleys.

To see if a bear has been in the area, look for SCAT on the trail, PRINTS in the mud, or SCRATCHINGS on trees. Other signs are DIGGINGS in the ground (when they are feasting on roots or trying to get at ground squirrels) and OVERTURNED ROCKS (when they are looking for insects). If the signs are FRESH, you should leave the area immediately!

Remember to make NOISE so you do not SURPRISE a bear.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Can you find 5 things?

Answers: Cars are stopped on the road,
- people are outside of their cars,
- door is open in the way of traffic,
- people are standing on the road,
- people are waaay too close to the bear.

What should you do instead?

If you see a roadside bear,the safest thing for YOU and the BEAR is to:

• slow down
• drive with care
• and NOT stop and stare.

What's Wrong With Stopping to Watch Roadside Bears?

1. It's dangerous for you. Bears are powerful animals. They can run faster than a horse, and are strong enough to kill a moose. Are you faster than a horse and stronger than a moose? There's also danger from traffic at "animal jams" - you could get hit by a car.
2. It's not safe for the bear, either. When bears see people day after day, they lose their natural fear of us. They may even approach people looking for food. Park Wardens then have to remove or kill the bear, to keep us safe. Also, when people get too close, the bear could be spooked onto the road and cause a traffic accident.
3. Think about the kids! Cubs can learn bad habits from their mom. Or they may lose their mothers before they are old enough to look after themselves. There are only about 55-80 Grizzly Bears in Banff National Park, so it's important that our baby bears have a chance to grow into mama and papa bears.

Bear Aware Quiz

1) To prepare for their winter hibernation, bears need to eat as much as __________ calories a day in the summer:

 

a) 1000-2000 (this is how much an adult human eats)

b) 6,000 (this is how much an adult lion eats)

c) 35,000 (the number of calories in 63 hamburgers, or in 200,000 buffaloberries)

 

HINT: Banff's bears are HUNGRY! This mountain habitat, with its cool temperatures and short growing seasons, does not provide bears with abundant, concentrated sources of calories. They have to spend most of their time eating or looking for food.

2) What percentage of a bear's diet in Banff National Park is meat?

 

a) 100%

b) 80%

c) 15%

d) 0%

 

HINT: Although grizzly bears are capable of hunting and eating an elk, or even a moose, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains bears eat mostly fruits and vegetables.

3) What are the main foods for a HEALTHY bear in Banff National Park?

 

a) apple cores, barbecue grease, and toothpaste

b) berries, roots and leaves, bugs, and the occasional ground squirrel or elk

c) fish guts, peanuts, and banana peels

 

HINT: Bears that have become used to human presence and human food sources are FOUR TIMES more likely to die an early, human-caused death than wary, wild bears.

4) Banff National Park is big, 6641 square kilometres big. How many bears live here?

 

a) about 55-80 grizzly bears and 50-60 black bears

b) about 450 grizzly bears and 250 black bears

c) about 3000 grizzly bears and 5000 black bears

 

HINT: The Rocky Mountains are not an easy place for wildlife to make a living, so even though the park is big, it has a relatively small bear population (compare this to the number of people in the park each year: 3 million visitors plus 4.7 million who just drive through).

5) How long does a grizzly bear cub stay with its mom here in the mountain parks?

 

a) six months

b) one year

c) two years

d) up to five years

 

HINT: The cubs have to stay with their mothers for a long time to learn how to survive in this harsh mountain environment. Banff's grizzly bears have the slowest reproduction rate known for grizzlies anywhere in North America, so it is difficult cult for our population to recover from even a few human-caused deaths a year.

6) Things YOU can do to keep Banff's bears WILD and ALIVE:

 

a) make noise when hiking

b) never approach a bear

c) keep your dog on a leash

d) obey the speed limit

e) report any bear sightings

f) watch for fresh bear signs (e.g. scat, tracks)

g) slow down, but don't stop, for a roadside bear

h) hike in a tight group of 4-6 or more

i) don't leave out food, or things that smell like food

j) all of the above

 

HINT: The best thing we can ALL do for bears - and for our own safety - is to help them avoid encounters with us and to ensure we don't allow them to get into our human food or garbage. Give them space!

Answers: 1. c, 2. c, 3. b, 4. a, 5. d, 6. j

Connect the Dots

Bears stand on their hind legs to get a better view - and sniff - of their surroundings.

Something to think about:

How are YOU connected to bears, to wildlife, and to your environment?

In Canada's national parks, we have a responsibility to share the land with ALL the plants and animals that live here. They're all part of what makes this place healthy and special - for today, and forever.

Where do Bears live?

1. Colour the valley bottom GREEN.
   This is suitable for bear habitat
2. Colour the lakes and streams BLUE
3. Colour the town of Banff RED

Look at the map above and answer the following questions:

Q. Where do the bears live? In the valley bottoms or on the mountain tops?

Q. Why do they live in the valley bottoms?

Q. Where do humans live, camp, hike and drive?

Q. What obstacles might bears encounter in their habitat?

Bears, and other wildlife, need a way to move from one valley to another valley. They need to find food, mates and shelter.

Q. How do the bears safely cross the highway?

A. They use the UNDERPASSES and OVERPASSES specially built for wildlife! These are like TUNNELS and BRIDGES that provide a safe place to cross the highway.

Can you tell which is an underpass and which is an overpass?

On the map, draw a circle at the best locations for Underpasses and Overpasses

HINT: Place the overpasses and the underpasses where a smaller side valley meets the main valley (where the highway is). This is often where streams meet the highway. Can you find at least 6 examples?

What are the differences between black bear and a grizzly bear?

Dished face profile Long, light coloured claws Short, rounded ears Shoulder hump	Straight face profile Short, dark coloured claws Taller ears No shoulder hump
Grizzly Bear Claw is between 2 and 4 inches long (5 to 10 centimetres)	Black Bear Claw is 11/2 inches long (3.5 centimeters)
Q. Why do grizzly bears have a big shoulder hump? A. Because they spend a lot of time digging! The hump is a big muscle that they develop while tearing up alpine meadows and digging for roots, tubers, marmots and ground squirrels. Q. What is a brown bear? A. Another word for grizzly bear.	Q. Are black bears always black? A. No! Their fur colour can range from light blond to reddish brown to black! The moral is: YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BEAR BY ITS COLOUR! Q. Why do black bears climb trees? A. To get away from grizzly bears (or people).

Fire! Bears need it

Colour the patchwork forest

Use LIGHT GREEN for grassy open areas.
Use GREY for burnt trees.
Use DARK GREEN for the old growth forest.

Just like a patchwork blanket, fire breaks the landscape up into patches of different vegetation. By burning some of the old tall trees we get a patchwork landscape. There are patches of open sunny meadows where shrubs and berry bushes can grow.

Put the right letter (A, B, C or D) from the diagram beside the correct description.
_____Nutrients in soil.
_____Old growth forest, dark forest floor.
_____Fire destroys old trees.
_____Flowers and plants can now get sunlight and grow.

Skoki's Story

(Adapted from Colleen Campbell, Bear Researcher, 1997)

Skoki was born in the winter of 1988 - a tiny, nearly bald bear weighing about one pound. Though his eyes were closed, he nursed from his sleeping mother and grew big enough to leave the den in the spring.

For two action-packed summers Skoki roamed Banff National Park with his mom and siblings. With them he learned where to dig for roots, what plants were good to eat, which animals to eat and which ones to avoid, and how to cross rivers, roads and railways.

At first, Skoki was not all that interested in people, or their food and garbage. Instead, he filled his belly with dandelions and buffaloberries along the side of the highway, and all the other foods his mother had taught him to seek out.

People, on the other hand, were very interested in Skoki. Traffic came to a stop so that humans could watch his every move. Over the next few summers, Skoki was exposed to thousands of people, day after day. Many visitors left their vehicles to approach him for a better look. Some, not knowing any better, may even have tried to feed him.

Skoki soon learned that people would not hurt him, although they often came too close. Because humans were bold towards him, he became bold towards humans. One day Skoki wandered through the Lake Louise campground, tripping over a tent. Later, he walked into the busy village bakery. As you can imagine, people got pretty scared about their own safety.

Park Wardens worked hard to try to teach Skoki to avoid humans, but by then his bad habits were strong and he was unable to go back to his wild ways. The Wardens tried to move Skoki far away, but he came right back to the Bow Valley because it was his home. It was now too dangerous to let Skoki stay in the Bow Valley, with so many people here, so the Wardens had only two choices left: to shoot him or to move him to a new home in a zoo.

Although Skoki is still alive (you can visit him at the Calgary Zoo), he is no longer wild. He will never again have the chance to father cubs in the wild or search for buffaloberries in the Rocky Mountains. Skoki's story teaches us the importance of giving bears the space they need - to keep them wild, healthy, and free.

Now that you've made it all the way through the manual, are you ready to take the BEAR CARE SWEAR?

Alright, raise your right hand and say the Bear Guardian Oath:

To save Banff's bears, we do declare,
We won't leave food out anywhere.
Because they're there, and wild, and rare,
We'll stay alert - and drive with care.
And if we spot a roadside bear,
We'll slow down but... not stop and stare!

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