Juliet stretchesToday, a Den-watcher noted the first play among Juliet’s cubs. We reviewed the footage and commend the Den-watchers. Having citizen scientists involved as Den-watchers was one of the major questions raised by the editor of Ursus when he sent the Den Cam paper back to us without sending it out for review. But the Den-watchers are veterans of multiple years of learning. They are more knowledgeable about denning behavior than perhaps anyone. We applaud their knowledge and dedication.
JulietAnother highlight today, was Lynn reading a chapter sent to him by the authors of an upcoming book. It was about Lynn’s efforts to save a unique, mile-long stand of oaks that attracted bears and other wildlife from great distances back in his old study. The writers wrote the previously untold story about Lynn’s collection of ecological data on the unusual values of that stand and about the threats to it. 
Juliet and 3 cubsThey told how Lynn gave his data to the Nature Conservancy and how that led to the land being purchased and added by the DNR to Tettegouche State Park. During the dedication ceremony back in 1992, Lynn was out of favor with the DNR at the time because of his efforts for white pines and his contribution was not mentioned. 
Cub anticsAt that time, it was enough for him to know the stand was saved for all it meant to decades of bear migrations. To see the story remembered and recorded at this time was uplifting.
Cub peers outIn response to last night’s update on eye opening, rehabilitator Joel Rosenthal reported that a cub born on January 15 had one eye partially open at 39 days of age and had both eyes half to ¾ open on at 42 days. It was another piece of data that the eyes open around 6 weeks (42 days). 
Juliet licks a pawBut from all that is known (including from Juliet’s den), we now know eye opening can begin as early as 30 days of age and can be completed as late as 46 days. We’ll be watching Juliet’s cubs during this warm period of better visibility to see how quickly they fully open their eyes. Seeing the eyes of one cub still closed two days ago and beginning to open yesterday makes us hope we or the Den-watchers can observed the full procedure.
An article on the recent permit hearing is at http://m.startribune.com/?id=249152771. If “gadfly” and “nutty professor” are the worst we hear, we can’t complain.
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.