Renowned photographer and wildlife researcher Lynn Rogers, Ph.D., has studied bears in the wild for more than 35 years and has developed mutually trusting relationships with individual wild bears, including mothers with cubs.  The bears have learned to ignore him as he follows them through the forest, recording their movements and collecting data on their preferred foods and interactions with other bears. 

“The Hidden World of Bears” features 60 of Rogers’ framed photographs of black bears, documenting their life as cubs born in a winter den, continuing through the spring and summer months as they eat, play and interact with other bears – and at times people – and culminating in the construction of a new den in the fall.  Other dramatic photographs include portraits of polar bears and brown bears in Hudson Bay and Alaska. 

In addition, interactive panels present some of Rogers’ research techniques and discoveries.  A “What’s for Dinner?” panel features objects and graphics of the types of food bears eat from season to season.  Another plays recordings of the seldom-heard vocalizations bears make to communicate with one another – cubs squabbling and cooing and adult bears crying, gargling, blowing and clacking, huffing and moaning – supported with text and research to interpret what each sound means. 

Rogers has provided a wealth of background information on black bears for popular books and television documentaries.  His research has been featured on the Discovery Channel, “NBC Nightly News” and “National Geographic Explorer”, as well as in books, scientific journals and other magazines.  A recent Animal Planet documentary, “The Man Who Walks with Bears”, traces his life’s work with black bears.

Organized by the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota, “The Hidden World of Bears” will be on exhibit at the Ford Education Center through November 30, 2009, and is open daily during regular Detroit Zoo hours at no additional charge.

The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo.  Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, the Detroit Zoo is located at the intersection of Ten Mile Road and Woodward Avenue, just off I-696, in Royal Oak.  The Detroit Zoo is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April through Labor Day (with extended hours until 8 p.m. Wednesdays during July and August), 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. day after Labor Day through October and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. November through March.  Admission is $11 for adults 15 to 61, $9 for senior citizens 62 and older, and $7 for children ages 2 to 14; children under 2 are free.  For more information, call (248) 541-5717 or visit www.detroitzoo.org.  The Belle Isle Nature Zoo is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round and provides educational programming with interpretive staff support from the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.  Admission is free.  For more information, call (313) 852-4056. 
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