I’ve been reviewing some of my photos from years past as I cull my library. One of the nice things about having to choose which photos to keep and which to delete is I get to relive some of my favourite encounters with wildlife.
I shot this series of images along Highway 1 near Sambaa Deh Territorial Park. This bear came waddling across the gravel road and into the ditch heading straight for the Tamarack trees. The bear stood up on his hind legs and began “lathering up” as if having a shower. He rubbed the needles on his head, nose, ears and around his eyes and I thought to myself that there must be a purpose for this behaviour.
I wondered what properties the Tamarack might have that the bear would want to rub it all over his face. I thought perhaps he was using the Tamarack as mosquito repellant.
The mosquitos that day were awful. I could see them swarming around the bear’s face and he was rubbing his eyes and shaking his head to try to get the cloud of blood-suckers to dissipate. While in the trees, he concentrated on rubbing the needles into his nose and the rest of his face. He did this a few times and when he returned to all fours and sauntered away it appeared that the mosquitos weren’t bothering him.
I have no idea if this is what was happening. But it made me think about what we think we know about animals. This bear could have knowledge about the forest and the properties of different plants that we do not understand. We usually look at how animals might be useful or profitable to us but I don’t know how much we think about what sorts of knowledge animals have about their surroundings and what ancient knowledge they carry that we don’t understand.
Anyhow, this encounter got me thinking about different ways of knowing. Whether or not Tamarack is a good mosquito repellent is something I still don’t know but next time I see a bear, I’m going to ask!