Jewel rests chin on bedding - Jan 19, 2012Jewel’s sister Lily gave birth on January 21 and 22. Jewel’s mother June and grandmother Shadow have each given birth on or before January 19.
A Lily fan pointed out that both births we have witnessed so far were on Friday, and Friday is tomorrow. Friday would be good.
Jewel with LONG tongue - Jan 19, 2012Jewel backed to the den entrance yesterday and today. We know from other dens that bears do that to defecate. We know that from the old days because we found feces at den entrances and no tracks beyond, so we know they backed to the spot. However, seeing this behavior the last couple days makes us curious to see if there are truly feces at Jewel’s den entrance. It seems early for her bowels to have filled up with cells sloughed off from her intestines to make what some call a ‘fecal plug.’ She may be urinating, considering all the snow crunching we’ve heard and knowing that bears eat snow while in the den. We’d love to check for discolored snow before more snow falls, but we’re reluctant to go near the den. We like the idea of having her behavioral data unquestionably untainted by human presence. Unless there is another reason that makes a visit mandatory, we’ll pass up this bit of possible urination data.
Jewel chews her foot pads - Jan 19, 2012As Jewel backed past the camera, she flashed us another look at her vulva. The change over the last few days is significant—much more swollen. The archived footage of today shows her backing past the camera at 15:54:09 and returning to her bed at 15:56:14. She’s got to be close to delivering!
We counted Jewel’s breaths at 10 per minute after a period of activity—and we got our hopes up, but her breathing dropped to as low as 4-5 per minute as she fell into a deep sleep. Still we wait.
Jewel - Jan 19, 2012The loud hum we all heard on this clear, sunny day was from the charge controller in the solar shed far from the Jewel’s den. Like last year, sunny days provide more electricity than the batteries need, and the charge controller hums when it’s overloaded. Ted went out and disconnected it to give us all a break. We want the Den-Watch Team and all of us to hear everything at this important time.
We don’t like the hesitation in the image/sound and have been trying to solve the problem. Jim Stroner is coming tonight. He and Ted will improve the antenna setup tomorrow at Jewel’s solar shed, which is also where the signal is broadcast to a Verizon cell tower and from there to South Africa and around the world. Hopefully they will have time to get the Lily-Faith Den Cam back online as well.
If you haven’t yet cast their vote for the Idaho Black Bear Rescue facility to win $5,000, they could use your help at http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/dream/view/second-chance-at-freedom-for-orphaned-bear-cubs. The contest ends at the end of the month. Each person can only vote once.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center