Jim fixing Jewel den cam glitch - Jan 8, 2012The Lily-Faith Den Cam has been transmitting well since we installed it on December 18. However, behind the scenes we have struggled with a problem of the solar panels not charging the batteries. We have slowly been depleting the bank of 8 batteries. Today, as the tech team resolved the issue with the solar panels, a vital component of the den cam equipment failed. Lily’s den cam will be down for a few days until a replacement arrives.
Lily - Jan 8, 2012Thank goodness it wasn’t Jewel’s Den Cam—although a cell signal glitch at Jewel’s equipment shed necessitated an evening visit to correct. Jewel is active and showing us parallels to Lily’s activity in and out of the den before Hope was born. We calculated the chances of Jewel giving birth this winter. 12 (71%) of 17 other females her age (3) gave birth in the clan. That’s the same percentage we quoted before Lily gave birth (10 of 14 at that time). Since then, Lily and Jo gave birth at 3 and Baby Devil waited until she was 4.
The bears here are overshadowed by the bears of Pennsylvania, though, when it comes to maturing and giving birth. Probably the most thorough study of birth rate ever done was by Dr. Gary Alt in Pennsylvania for his Ph.D. Dissertation. He found that 85% of the mothers there had their first litters at the age of 3 (like Lily) or before. Regarding “or before,” 1 actually had cubs at age 2.
We’re using descriptive titles for updates to help us (and you) find past updates with specific information. To further help with that, we made the DVD “Memories of 2010” that can be downloaded into a computer so all the updates of 2010 are word searchable. “Memories of 2011” is being compiled now and will be done soon.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute North American Bear Center