Winnie the black bear preparing for winter at NEW Zoo in Suamico

Suamico - Winnie the black bear is about to spend her first winter at the NEW Zoo in Suamico. She arrived at the zoo in July, and zoo staff are seeing what she wants to do as she prepares to den up.

Zoo director Neil Anderson says don't really hibernate, they have winter sleep instead.

A few weeks ago, Winnie started gorging herself to prepare for winter, but has slowed down her eating.

Anderson says bears typically eat about 4,000 calories each day. When they are getting ready to den up, they eat about 15,000 calories in a day. A bear can put on about 30 pounds in a week.

Winnie has been nesting in preparation for winter. She has brought items from outside the exhibit inside.