Braveheart in her denThe Duluth News Tribune announced Lily’s cubs’ names this morning at http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/cubs-named. The names go well with the names of their mother and the area where they live. Good choices all around. At first, Lynn was pulling for the two names he added to the list—Charlie and Charity (nicknames Charlie and Char)—but as voting progressed, he liked Eli and Ellie better and hoped they would remain in the lead. They did, and Lily Fans spoke decisively with 6,057 votes for the male and 5,955 votes for the female. The top votes for the male were Eli (1,805), Asher (1,429), and Charlie (622). For the female, it was Ellie (2,468), Charity (1,063), and Clover (653).
Ellie, Lily, and EliOur volunteer Media Relations Director Bev Hauptli, working with Executive Director Nadine Long, put out a super press release about Lily’s and Jewel’s Den Cams. If Lily Fans would like to spread the word to local newspapers, TV, and radio stations, the press release is at http://tinyurl.com/20130325_Den_Cam_Release.pdf.
Ellie hangs from the rafters!The excitement today in Lily's den was Ellie hanging from the rafters. Eli has been navigating the two levels of the den for several days now. His usual route down is off-camera, but his sister accomplished her descent in fine style. 
Ellie reaches for a footholdShe reached up and clung to the sticks above her head with her front paw then let go with her back paws and dangled. She attempted to get a foothold on the Den Cam tube but failed. She then hung by just one paw and dropped to the lower level. Eli may run laps around Lily in the den, but Ellie gets points for her gymnastic abilities!
Ellie hangs by one pawTed came out of his den again today, but with the deep snow he’s not venturing out of his small enclosure. We wondered what was making him restless. 
Judy Thon retrieves Ted's scatJudy Thon wondered if he was hungry and gave him some romaine lettuce. Then Ted did what brings a lot of wild bears out late in the denning period—he defecated. Lily Fans were on top of it—they recognized what was happening when Ted ‘assumed the position.’ Soon a message was relayed to Judy Thon who promptly acted in accordance with her unofficial title, Scat Relocation Specialist. While Ted watched, perhaps in wonder, Judy picked up every scrap and brought it to the Wildlife Research Institute for examination. Lucky and Honey did not come out today.
Dog tracks by Jewel's den
Bec strings cables for Jewel's PTZMeanwhile, the research associates covered a lot of ground. These are people the bears have known for several years now. First stop for 2 of them: Jewel’s den. Their dual purpose was to install a PTZ camera outside her den and check the area for tracks. A day or so ago, the Den Cam showed Jewel making a long nose toward the entrance and we heard an animal sniffing around outside. Jim and Bec found and photographed fresh dog tracks at the entrance of the den and all around the Den Cam tube. Thanks to this crew, we now have PTZ cameras at both Lily’s and Jewel’s dens. We hope to have them available online soon.
Mike, where are your snowshoes?Then a crew of 3 made the trek toward Braveheart’s signal again, walking on and across a frozen river. The going was easier today because the trail was packed from their trek yesterday. 
Braveheart's DenWe needed to find her soon because a warm spell could prevent us from crossing the river. This time they successfully located Braveheart’s den, as the photos show. Braveheart has never had less than 3 cubs, but the crew could only see and hear two in this litter. Was there a third? We’ll see what she shows us once she's out of the den.
Star's denThe next stop for the 3-some was 4-year-old Star’s den where Glenn had earlier heard only one cub. Same today. If this really is another single-cub litter, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Whoa...At the end of the day, we couldn't help but think how different this weekend's benign den checks of trusting bears were from the old days of using tranquilizers. We now collect a different kind of data and don't get the den weights or do the ear-tagging we used to do, but we have decades of that kind of data. Our goals now are focused on behavior, ecology, and bear-human relations in this area where about a dozen households have fed bears for decades. Most have learned that coexistance with black bears is possible.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.