Hairs from his dark coat clinging to trees, and “fresh droppings from acorns”. At the end of December, the association Fiep-Pyrenees bear groups indicated that she had just detected in the Ossau valley, in Béarn, the male bear Néré [ « le noir » en aranais]proof that the oldest bear in the Pyrenees was probably going to find a den in the area to spend the winter… and celebrate his 27th birthday there this January.
An event hailed on the Web by bear friends. Especially since they had serious concerns for the dean when he was filmed in the spring of 2022 limping on his left hind leg before reappearing in great shape. Particularly in spring 2023 in Ariège, in a video where he energetically rubs his back against a tree trunk. From specialist memory, only Pyros – the “Casanova” of the mountains, ancestor of 86% of the plantigrades of the Pyrenees – and Papillon, both dead at 29-30 years old, are ahead of him in longevity. The other two oldest bears in the Cannellito massif, his 20-year-old son, and Caramelitta, a 22-year-old female, look like youngsters compared to him.
An “original” genetic heritage
“But his age is not the only reason that makes Néré a now iconic bear,” explains Alain Reynes, the director of the association. Land of the bear-Adet. Néré is one of the famous bears who conquered “one of the largest territories” in the Pyrenees. Because he is particularly adventurous. He got into the habit of traveling long distances, shuttling between Béarn and Ariège in particular, and constituting a link between the population of the western core and that of the central core.
Néré is also interesting “genetically”. He is the son of Ziva, who arrived pregnant from Slovenia in 1997 and, of a father, necessarily “unknown”, from the forests of Eastern Europe. “It therefore carries an original genetic heritage in this population which makes it particularly important,” underlines Alain Reynes. Theoretically, it should provide diversity and partly compensate for the escapades of the late Pyros.
Charms that don’t always work
Even if he doesn’t seem to be completely coping with the task. Despite his 27 years and his mountain “shuttles”, to date there are only five “offsprings”, including four born in 2020, in addition to Cannellito whom he had with the famous Cannelle in 2004 just before she does not die under the bullets of a hunter.
In Béarn, the charm of Néré – who no one knows if he is 27 years old and all his teeth – does not act on Sorita, the only breeding female in the sector who prefers the passion of Rodri, 17 years his junior . “It seems he has failed to dominate Rodri in recent years”; notes Alain Reynes. We will know when we come out of hibernation if Nere the Elder has refined his flirting plan.