Juliet This afternoon, Mauro Caruso and Ted Parvu made it to Juliet’s Den Shed. They got the system back up and running so Den Watchers could record the live data and Linda Gibson could download the video footage stored in the camera. We are currently reviewing the footage to put together the timing of Juliet’s labor and delivery. This is what we know so far.
Juliet prepares to defecateJuliet’s cubs were born the morning of January 23. At 8:30 AM she backed up to the entrance of the den and defecated in full view of the camera. At 9:12 AM Juliet was lying half on her side. Six seconds later, she lifted her right hind leg, tucked her head down, and began licking either a cub or her genitals. We don’t know the exact moment the cub was born. We heard the first squeak just before 9:17 AM and a clear cub vocalization a few seconds later. We are still determining exact times.
A major difference from other births we have recorded is that there were no motherly grunts from Juliet during the one cub's birth we have reviewed. Both Lily and Jewel began grunting when their cubs were born, so it’s a good thing we have been able to watch different bears.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center