Lily's Background - UPDATE January 8, 2010
Three-year-old Lily is part of the long-term study of black bear ecology and behavior being conducted by the Wildlife Research Institute (www.bearstudy.org) near Ely, Minnesota, less than 30 miles from the Canadian border. Lily is the daughter of 9-year-old June who features prominently in the video footage at the North American Bear Center and here on its website. As a cub, Lily’s face was lighter than her brothers and she was the dominant cub of the litter. She now has a dark face with a light brown muzzle and prominent eyebrow spots.
Lily can be seen as a cub in these videos on the Bear Video page:
Caring for Cubs in the Den -- A wild black bear mother cares for her three 5-week-old cubs. They are snug in a dug den as snow falls outside. The mother is 6-year-old June and this is her 2nd litter. The light-faced cub is a female (Lily) and the other 2 are males (Cal and Bud). This exceptionally trusting mother allowed us to place a video camera in her den to obtain these intimate scenes of bear family life. [Lily is the most visible cub.]
Water in the Den -- A 6-year-old wild black bear mother licks her cubs dry after moving them from their wet den during an early spring thaw. [Good close-up of Lily’s light face as June licks her head.]
Nursing Cubs -- A 6-year-old wild black bear nurses her 3 cubs. Nursing positions are established in the den. Each cub works their pair of nipples, alternately suckling from each. They make a humming noise as they begin to suckle but stop vocalizing about halfway through the 5 minute nursing bout.[Lily climbs across June’s chest to get to her usual set of nipples on June’s right side.]
Eating Ant Pupae -- A female wild black bear and her three young cubs dig at logs and stumps, and move rocks and stones to forage on ant pupae. [Lily feeds with her brothers in the opening scene.]
Eating Animal Matter -- Wild black bears feeding on a variety of animal matter—from snowfleas and white-tailed deer fawns in the spring to bumblebees in the summer. [Watch Lily eat snowfleas and dig out bumblebees.]