A BIG yawn from LilyAt 4:28 AM this morning, Lily and her cubs were snuggled together sleeping, Lily breathing 4.1 times a minute and one of her cubs was breathing 12 times a minute.
Ellie hangs from the raftersLittle Ellie was particularly rambunctious today—racing about and even pulling herself up to ‘walk’ on the ceiling of the den. She repeatedly engaged Eli in rough play. He seems stronger but can’t match her enthusiasm. A video ‘Ellie Goes Wild’ is posted at http://youtu.be/ZzF1fAZ7lE0.
Fern peers outJewel and her yearlings were all outside of their den today pawing up and eating hard chunks of snow. The action was caught on the PTZ camera—which is not online yet. Later we noticed she was chewing up balsam boughs in her den. 
Jewel and Fern out eating snowEither she or a yearling must have brought them in while we weren’t watching. A video of their escapades is posted at http://youtu.be/1jxzmOnziKI. It incorporates inside-the-den footage from the Den Cam as well as outside-the den-footage from the PTZ.
Lily pulls Ellie back into the denAt 6:50 PM, Lily was sleeping and her cubs were quiet. Things are quiet in Jewel’s den, too. Is this the calm before the storm? Are they resting up for a move? Or will they wait for better snow conditions? The warm weather and sunshine did not start the bears moving today.
Eli and LilyAt 1:45 PM, Honey made a trip down to the gate and over to the scale in her routine to get fed. She ate half a head of romaine lettuce and headed back into her den again.
Lucky didn’t come out at all that we know of. Same for Ted, but the many eyes of Lily Fans might know better.
Eli braces for Ellie's assaultThe door to Ted’s enclosure is shut again so he won’t be disturbed by Lucky. Ted is acting like he wants to remain calm and sleepy in his chalet den. If he becomes active, the staff will open his door, let him roam, let him come down and ask for food like Honey does, or just go back to sleep. 
Lily and EliTed’s stomach is still shrunk—Lucky’s, too. Bears don’t wake up hungry. They work into hunger. Giving Honey lettuce at this point probably stretches her stomach sooner than would be natural.
EllieJewel could easily come out and begin roaming. Fern and Herbie could easily follow her in this snow, but hunger has not yet set in and there is nothing to eat in the wild. Bears in this area are genetically programmed according to the annual cycle of plant growth and fruiting. 
EliTheir hibernation is followed by a period of “walking hibernation” during which their metabolism revs up to active levels in time to take advantage of spring green-up, which usually begins in early May here. A myth about black bears is that they wake up hungry after 6 months without food. 
Jewel eyes FernNope. They’re better adapted than to wake up hungry when very little food is available yet.
Today, we learned of two stories of Lily Fans in surgery. In the first story, the true Lily Fan’s last words as she drifted off under anesthesia was telling the doctors to go to bear.org to learn more about Lily and her cubs.
Herbie is last to leave the denThe second Lily Fan, who had only local anesthesia, told it this way, “My surgery began with the doctor telling me he saw a black bear in his yard that morning and how his neighbor always calls the police when she sees one. Sheesh. 
Jewel's empty denSo we spent the entire surgery having a mini-course of bear education. I'm not one to miss an opportunity to talk bears!”
Way to go—so positive! Both of them work hard in so many ways behind the scenes. As do so many volunteers. We’re looking forward to Volunteer Recognition Week and letting them all know how much we support, respect, and appreciate all that they make possible.
Thank you and all the volunteers 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.