Lily the Bear

**Odd** · 01-21-10, 06:42 AM

No relation to the bears here.

Lily's a black bear in Ely, Minnesota who is part of a long term ecology and behavior study. What's most interesting about her just now is she may be the first black bear to give birth observed by humans. As yesterday was her birthday (she's 3) this seemed a decent enough time to pass along. Hopefully she'll have her cubs around the same time.

I've been checking in now and then, and while it has changed my inaccurate understanding of hibernation being "bear goes to sleep for months, wakes up in spring" it's not the most exciting thing to watch. It is kind of fun to check in now and then though and the teachers/parents I've talked to are telling me kids are enthralled. If she doesn't have cubs soon that may wear off, but then I know even less about kids than hibernating bears.

Guessing this is one webcam girl you wouldn't mind your youngins watching anyhow.

Link to the video stream and the background :

North American Bear Center | Den Cam and Updates

And here's a vid of some grooming I caught a couple days ago.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hhtejESE7o]YouTube - Lily the bear[/ame]

A more active and fun video compilation from BooBooBearBecky

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chobzHe1XTY[/ame]

**Jenna** · 01-21-10, 08:22 AM

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**Odd** · 01-22-10, 08:29 AM

After an unfortunate power outage, and Lily piling pine branches in front of the lens before that, everything is tip top again. She's awake just now and people in the chat there are once again predicting cubs any second.

I'm only sort of a farm boy, so no wonder she's tricked me a few times too. Just glad to see the view is working and unobstructed this morning.

And, of course with new activity, bear.org crashed. Alternative link : WildEarth.TV ... it's in your nature. - wildearth.tv

**Jenna** · 01-22-10, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by Odd

After an unfortunate power outage, and Lily piling pine branches in front of the lens before that, everything is tip top again. She's awake just now and people in the chat there are once again predicting cubs any second.

I'm only sort of a farm boy, so no wonder she's tricked me a few times too. Just glad to see the view is working and unobstructed this morning.

And, of course with new activity, bear.org crashed. Alternative link : WildEarth.TV ... it's in your nature. - wildearth.tv

Just goes to show that even when you're smarter than the average bear, you can't stop the voyeurs....