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19
January
2011

Many questions, few answers

Lily_chewing_pads_20110119_140225_-_upWith birth(s) about to happen, there are so many things to think about.

What to look for?   Likely 1-3 cubs, each about ¾ pound and 9 inches long, covered with sparse fur and looking light-colored because of their white skin.  They will have little sucking mouths with no teeth.

Is there room in the den?  The den is 5-6 feet long.  The cubs will mostly be under Lily.  They are too small to take up much room.

Lily_and_Hope_-_20110119_135631What will Lily do during labor?  Last year, she clenched her teeth, making her head muscles flex.  She became restless.  She slammed her hindquarters around like we have heard that dogs do in labor.

What will Hope do during labor?  That’s something we’ll all learn together but likely will just get out of the way.

Will Lily let Hope nurse?  Big question.

Who is the father?  We don’t know that for Hope or these bears.  Lily moved far and wide during estrus last June, and we didn’t recognize any of the males we glimpsed with her.

Lily_grooming_-_20110119_140002What will happen in spring when Lily would normally separate from Hope to mate again—a process called family break-up.  Probably nothing.  If the new cubs survive until then, Lily will be nursing a passel of cubs and not likely to come into estrus.  Lily’s pregnancy might have bought Hope an extra year with mom.  Mixed-age litters that have been reported have the older sibling sticking around an extra year.

Will Hope have any instinct for grooming the cubs or will they all simply be competitors?  That is the $64,000 question.

What was Lily doing today with her feet?  She was working hard to remove the calloused thick part of her food pads, exposing tender new foot pads and toe pads underneath.  She is showing us that this starts in January.  We have seen bears that still have partial old pads in early April.  Bears are careful where they walk in spring until the new foot pads toughen up.

Tomorrow: more on the extra rich, sweet, and concentrated milk called colostrum.

A broken promise:  we thought we could fix the terrible whine in the sound today.  Jason tried, but it couldn’t be fixed.

Good news: Ted and Lucky’s Den Cam might be up sometime tomorrow.  This will allow us to compare their inactivity with what is going on in Lily and Hope’s den.

Lily and Hope were on Minnesota Public Radio this morning and will be in the Minneapolis Star Tribune tomorrow morning.  The newspaper might carry a map of where people are watching in the world and a graph of how Lily’s Facebook page has grown to nearly 124,000 this past year.

Janet Dalton and Lynne Cann report that people are recording data well, so the events of the birth will be well covered.

Follow 'bearstudy' on Twitter for up-to-date info on Lily and Hope.  We have added the last 4 tweets to the Lily and Hope Den Cam page.

Thank you for all you did today, including the contributions in honor of Lily’s birthday.

—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

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