Among the Bears: Raising Orphaned Cubs in the Wild

by Benjamin Kilham, Ed Gray

In the spring of 1993, Benjamin Kilham, a naturalist who lives in the woodlands of New Hampshire, began raising a pair of orphaned wild black bears. The experience changed his life.

While spending thousands of hours with the cubs, Kilham discovered unknown facets of bear behavior that have radically revised our understanding of animal behavior. Now widely recognized for his contributions to wildlife science, Kilham reveals that bears are altruistic and cooperate with unrelated, even unknown individuals, while our closer relatives, the supposedly more highly evolved chimps, cooperate only within troops of recognizable members. Beyond the natural history, he introduces individual bears who become enthralling and memorable characters.

Genres: Animals, Nature, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2002

Reviews

[Mike Delpha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful account of raising orphaned bear cubs from just a few months old until they are young adult that are able to integrate into the wild. And the struggle and sacrifices it took for him to do so.

I’ve never been a bear fan so to speak - mostly because of all their excessive predation on fawns, but enjoyed and learned a lot about bears from this book and it has expanded my appreciation of them significantly. Incredibly smart creatures.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been following them for years so it was great to hear how Ben got started. Loved all the details

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Kilham has spent many years raising orphaned black bears and he has captured his observations, thoughts, and theories on them in this well-written book. There are comparatively very few books written about black bears and so this book is of particular importance in clearing up many of the misconceptions about black bears and laying out the case for their being one of the most intelligent and sensory mammals in the animal kingdom.

[Cherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. We do encounter bears occasionally so it is nice to know more about them and their behavior. I had heard of Ben Kilham and his work in rehabilitating bears to be released back into the wild. Kudos to Ben for carrying on this research.

[Patrice M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and informative about black bears, as well as the author's experiential study of these animals.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kilham fosters wild brown bear cubs with the goal of returning them to the wild. There's no literature on the subject, so he follows his own wisdom. A meaningful read!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and informative

[Millie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to take a break half way through because it got really sad. hoping to pick it up again some time though. amazing, amazing diligent work and love from this man.

[Ariska · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a dog lover I have read many books and watched films on dogs, wolves. This was my first books about bears. After I struggled with the first chapter in which the author tells lots of details about his business and which can be omitted the books starts to be very interesting. The author concentrates on bears without sentiment, describing just the important information. He doesn’t think his opinion is definitely the right one, he offers his ideas not sure if it is true or not, such as why a bear does this or that.
However, when one of his bear is shot you can read between the lines how sorry he felt and how it must have been difficult for him.

[Jane Sweatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to read especially if one is interested in the behaviours of bears and how to best return them to the wild after being orphaned. I am not trying to reduce the value of the many years of work Ben Kilham has done with bears. I believe this was the first book he wrote about bears it is both interesting and instructive and well worth the read. If you are curious about his work or work in general to return wild animals to their natural habitats after they have been orphaned it is definitely worth reading. I think people wishing to pursue a career in this field or a related field would find this book quite worthwhile.
J.

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book detailing what it would be like to raise orphan bear cubs for release into the wild. Before reading this book, I didn't realize that published research on the social structure of bears was lacking. The author did some groundbreaking work, I learned many new things, and it reminded me a little bit of Jane Goodall's early experience with chimpanzee research. If you're interested in bears, wildlife rehabilitation, conservation, or social animal behavior, I would definitely recommend this book.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing story of a naturalist who raises orphan black bear cubs in a very unconventional way. His experiences are uplifting, heartbreaking and everything in between. You'll learn more about bears than you can imagine.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy teaches you that black bears are pretty tame and also teaches you that a human can raise black bears with success.

[thebaey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned a lot of great black bear information from this book but as a whole it was kind of a snore.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book. Bears amaze me! I want to meet this author. Since I already do wildlife rehab this has inspired me a lot...

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book! I learned so much about bears and enjoyed the story of this man and his interactions with the bears.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of eastern black bears by a New Hampshire naturalist who raised two abandoned bear cubs.

[Kate McGowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Anyone who loves wildlife will like this. It is very readable and interesting. This author actually came to our Library to talk too.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love science/animal/stories and this one was very well done. Very informative, but told in an accessible way.

[Jace Stansbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about black bears.

[Sylvia Dolson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many books available on bear behaviour. If you are interested in a very accurate depiction of the true nature of black bears, you'll want to read this book.

[Stephi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, lots of cute stories but dry at times. Took me a bit more to get into it.