Jewel cleans first cub - Jan 22, 2012The wait is over—for us and for 3-year-old Jewel. Her labor was shorter and easier than the body-slamming we saw with Lily’s first labor. Jewel’s unusual activities overnight were enough to catch the attention of the Den-Watchers. Den Watch Coordinator Dr. Janet Dalton sent us brief summaries written up at the end of each shift.
Jewel glances towards camera moments after the first birth - Jan 22, 2012At 0722 and 0840, Jewel became active and greeted each cub with motherly grunts. A video of the births is posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#p/u/0/eognFId4gFM. The cubs didn’t have their full voices at first. They only squeaked and chirped. When they were quiet, Jewel was quiet. When they gave their squeaks and chirps, Jewel answered with attentive grunts and moved to rectify whatever was wrong. The cubs will let her know when they can’t reach a nipple, when they feel a draft, and when they have to relieve themselves. Jewel will hover over them, keep them warm and give them access to her nipples as she breathes on them. Temperature at the time of birth was 19F.
The worldwide team of Den-Watchers will record standardized data minute by minute until the family leaves the den in April. The cubs’ eyes will open in early March.
Dot ignores researchers and hovers over her cubs in her den - Jan 22, 2012This same scene has been happening throughout the forest in recent days. We got an email about a mother with new cubs in Duluth. Knowing that the Den-Watchers were recording everything and that another team member was going over the archives to create a video of labor highlights, we checked to see if 12-year-old Dot had cubs yet. We found her so engaged with 2-3 newborn cubs that she never bothered to look up (photo). This is the same mother that in 2003 was accommodating enough to lift a leg when we crawled into her den to put a tiny thermal imaging camera under her to record the first such images of newborn cubs. She is a great, attentive mother whose trust provides unprecedented opportunities for learning. We considered giving her a Den Cam this winter until we found there was no cell phone coverage at her den.
Jewel chews her foot pads in her last cub-free hours - Jan 22, 2012
Watching this live is just incredible. So many people around the world blended their technological knowledge to make this happen. Finally, in the last couple years, technology and trust are enabling us all to learn about the least studied half of black bear life—their time of labor, birth, and care of newborn cubs in their hidden world. Teachers who have Jewel on in their classrooms all day tell us about the excitement whenever Jewel is active. Over 500 schools are watching along with us. What we did for science is having huge benefits for education and for bears worldwide as people form new attitudes about bears and gain an interest in the natural world.
The volunteer Media Team came through big today. The story made Google Alerts. CBS asked if their affiliate stations can run the Den Cam. Northland News Center is running a story on Channel 6 (Duluth) at 10 PM.
While writing this update, we were listened to the cubs nursing strongly and steadily, making their motor-like hum with full gusto. Between the two, they will stimulate enough prolactin to prevent Jewel from ovulating so we all can get the best knowledge possible about normal family behavior throughout the summer. The BBC will likely be here in April and May to include the family in all 8 programs in their new series “Planet Earth Live.”
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center