June, Jewel and Jordan - April 17, 2009In this 5½-minute highlight video from January 27, 2014, Juliet’s 3 cubs reveal their individual nursing sounds that vary in pitch and in the number of pulses per second. One chattered so fast that it was referred to by some as Speedy last year, although their names got officially changed to Ray, Bernard, and Charlie (which turned out to be a female).
Juliet had never read that black bears go months without urinating, so she naively backed up to the edge of her bed and urinated right in front of the camera with the first spurt of urine coming at 2 minutes 11 seconds into the clip.
At the end of the clip, at 5 minutes and 21 seconds into it, there is a glimpse (barely) of a cub. I believe it is the first glimpse we’ve had.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYKfeDqDLFM
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/117955883
Archives: http://www.bearstudy.org/website/research/2014-juliet-archives.html
Jewel descends the tree - April 17, 2009In this 3-minute flashback to April 17, 2009, June settles onto her back in the nursing position, and Jewel descends from the cedar tree and begins nursing. She soon picks the prominent bright white nipple on June’s right—a favorite among successive litters over the years. We hear Jordan’s claws on the cedar bark as he descends and erupts into protest as he sees Jewel on the preferred nipple. Nipple ownership is usually worked out in the den, but this family is away from the den and still working out their positions. As they protest and try to take over nipples from each other, they bicker loudly but peaceable. June doesn’t object, but when an outright fight breaks up June proclaimed an end to nursing by standing up. The low and high for this day was 27° and 70°F.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beWadPIYt90
Everyone is working hard toward the opening of the Northwoods Ecology Hall. It is a joy for me each morning to see the progress of the day before. Lily Fans tell me to wave at the camera when I come in, which will be fun to do. I only wish I could see who is out there watching. The visible progress at this time is on the habitat and mural. But a lot is happening behind the scenes, too. Everything seems to take longer than anticipated, which is because we value accuracy over quickness. We will open before June, but the official Grand Opening date will be Saturday, June 6, when many people are in town. We are planning local WELY radio coverage from on site, food, and many special events to mark the opening. The Northwoods Ecology Hall will be spectacular by then, but we’ll continue to add exhibits into the future.
Many Lily Fans are helping.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center