A new study indicates that Americans gained up to 15 IQ points after the addition of iodine to salt became mandatory. In an effort to prevent goiter related to iodine deficiency, authorities ruled that iodine be added to U.S. salt products in 1924. The iodine, in addition to eliminating goiter, appears to have had an unexpected result: smarter Americans.
At peak lactation a black bear cub consumes about 30 ounces of milk a day, and a brown bear cub takes about 45 ounces. Thatâs per cub, so a mom with a litter of two or three cubs could be producing three or four quarts per day â a difficult metabolic feat to sustain.
Most Michigan black bears begin life in the normally dark to semi-dark interior of a den during January. Cubs average about 12 ounces in weight when born, but large ones may weigh as much as a pound. The newborns are basically hairless, with their eyes closed. The tiny bears' hair grows quickly after birth and their eyes open after about six weeks. As many as five cubs may be born to an exceptionally healthy, adult female bear. One year I photographed a large female with five cubs on a Menominee County farm. Although females with five cubs aren't often seen, the birth of four cubs to Michigan females is not unusual.