Juliet - January 18, 2014The Den Cam clips we have been selecting for updates are from the brief times Juliet is active, which is something less than 10 percent of the time. In this 6 ½ minute video from the lull before the births, Juliet becomes active, eats snow that the wind conveniently puts directly in front of the Den Cam, rakes bedding, and then snuggles down into her restful state again.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6N6sJurdW4
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/117079402
In the 1 ¾ minute flashback to September 5, 2007, June and her inseparable daughter Lily come across a mossy mound created by a tree (likely a cedar) tipping over in a windstorm. The mounds are favorite denning sites, and bears check out possible denning sites throughout the active period of their year. June crawled partly in to investigate and dig a bit but lost interest and moved on. Lily did her own investigation and then decided mom was getting too far away, pausing to investigate the camera, before hurrying on. Just as she was leaving, she showed us the sparse white chest hairs that confirm her identity (in addition to her personality and light nose). http://youtu.be/dDPZWQ0T9kQ
Last night, we mentioned 15 mothers likely to have cubs in 2015, making it the biggest cub year ever in our study. Lily Fans are on the ball. We forgot one possible mother—3-year-old Fern who visits a couple feeding stations and will likely have cubs. Lily Fans caught it, which makes me feel among friends who are up to speed.
Also not mentioned were a number of other clan member likely to have cubs. These are females we don’t see often enough to count on seeing them. But with the 15 females with cubs we are likely to see as they drift in and out through the summer, we will be thankful for Black Bear Field Course participants who can help us think of names for the 40 or so new cubs.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center