Lily digs out a mouse nest.
The 12v sound amplifier is built and on its way via overnight delivery. Wednesday, we plan to trek to the den to install it and possibly adjust the Den Cam. When Lily and Hope are in the back of the den, we wish the Den Cam were closer to them to brighten them up and see better detail, but when Lily was raking today as in Linda’s video, we were glad the Den Cam was where it is. If Lily comes out when we’re there, we hope to get a look at her vulva. Will it be swollen like it was last year as she approached parturition? Will we get an indication this early that she will have cubs? We’re expecting the birth(s) the third week of January if it happens. Last year, the birth was on January 22.
What is Lily licking?
Linda Gibson captured a clue about Bear-Mouse relations in dens. In her video at
http://www.facebook.com/v/181883831831014, Lily is raking in the very spot Sue saw the vole burrow down into the bedding. In the video, Lily raked up a mouse nest but paid no attention to it. Later in the video, marked by an arrow, something either falls or runs into the bedding where the mouse nest was extracted. We can’t decide whether it is a vole or a piece of something. None of the four frames that show it really looks like a mouse, but the motion suggests that whatever it is was running down on an angle or the slant of the bedding made it fall at an angle. See what you think.
Lily fans are noting their observations and feelings in the ‘LTBB DEN DIARY for Winter of 2011’ at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=263755115498&topic=19228.
Dave Hoole’s news piece about the den cam installation will air tonight on Northland’s News Channel 6 in Duluth http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/iron-range/New-Den-Cam-Shows-Lily-and-Hope-Near-Ely-112822624.html . This is just the text at this point. He said the video will go up after it airs tonight. It airs at 6 and 10 PM Central Time.
We are getting viewers’ reactions to the first program of The Bear Family and Me. It aired today in the UK on BBC2 at 9 PM Greenwich Time (3 PM Central Time). We have seen your kind concerns that we didn’t get enough credit, based on the teasers posted by the BBC on YouTube, but our main concern is educating about bears. We haven’t seen the finished programs yet. We hope they help bears. The emails we have received so far indicate that the reaction is positive for bears.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
