The American Geode team's search for great rocks on Saturday, October 7, was unexpectedly interrupted, when a mother black bear and her three cubs appeared out of the Forest on the opposite side of Route 15, near Cogan Station.

New York-based American Geode is a supplier of geodes, minerals, gems and fossils to collectors, academics, museums and interior design professionals. The American Geode website is www.americangeode.com.

Charles Snider of American Geode and a friend were stopped along Route 15 at about 7:30 a.m., when the mother bear, followed by two of the cubs, bounded onto the roadway, staring at the two humans and their vehicle for several seconds and sniffing the air for clues about what they had encountered.

When the third cub emerged at a trot from the forest, the mother bruin turned and jogged back into the forest, followed by her triplets.

Snider shot video throughout the encounter.

Based on their sizes, the bears appeared to be a relatively small, adult female and three half-grown cubs she birthed in her hibernation den last winter.

The cubs likely will overwinter with their mother before dispersing on their own next spring.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, female bears give birth to cubs during early January while in the winter den. Litter sizes range from one to five, with three most frequent in Pennsylvania.

Newborns are covered with fine dark hair, through which their pink skin shows. They are about 9 inches long and weigh 8 to 10 ounces. Their eyes and ears are closed.

Cubs nurse in the den. After about six weeks, their eyes open. In about two more weeks, they walk.

They leave the den when 3 months old, are weaned by 7 months, and by fall usually weigh 60 to 100 pounds. Bears traveling in groups in autumn are usually females and their cubs.

Mothers and year-old cubs den together again the winter after their birth.

The family group disbands the following spring, when the female is ready to breed again. Consequently, a female generally raises only one litter every two years.

The male cubs, then 16 months old and called yearlings, disperse while female yearlings establish home ranges nearby.

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