Holly's den Holly is mostly sleeping deep in her straw but the image is too often pixelated to count her breaths and see REM sleep (ear twitches), etc. The tracks a couple feet outside her den show where she stepped yesterday afternoon but went right back inside.
Lucky's denLucky’s den shows how the snow has piled up nicely by his door.
The shadow in Ted’s den is too dark to pick Ted out. Judy didn’t want to go closer and wake him up.
Ted's denHoney is sleeping with her head buried and mostly breathing a steady 4.0/min (5.2/minute a couple days ago) in her window den.
We’re seeing the same in Juliet’s den where the picture is crisp and it is easy to count her 4.0 breaths per minute. We’re making good progress getting her Den Cam stream ready for our experienced Den-Watch Team.
Lily Fans want to know:
1. Why did the update say that Faith, who will turn 3 this month, has little chance of having cubs? We are guessing that she won’t have cubs at 3 because she has spent little time at community feeding stations in previous years and no time at feeding stations this year. She may not have gained enough weight to have cubs at 3. We think she will do like her Grandmother June did and wait ‘til she’s 4 or do like her Great-Grandmother Shadow did and wait until she’s older yet.
Juliet's den2. Why did you wait until the cold weather to give Juliet a Den Cam? How did she react? We installed the camera as soon as possible after receiving DNR permission to stream her video live to the official Den Watchers. Juliet was a sweetheart. She heard the familiar “It’s me bear” and was calm. Even though it was her first Den Cam, she ignored it once it stopped moving, and she hasn’t even licked the lens.
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.