Lily and Hope - The Black Bear and Cub

It's a Man thing Lai
Thanks for the update
WS

This one is BRILLIANT you've got to watch it all he way through



WS

That was a great thing to watch first thing this morning, haven't the cubs grown and don't they make some amazing noises?

It must be so great for them to be learning so much about the bears with the den cams.

Lai

Updates from Friday & Saturday

Saturday



WS

Thanks for the updates WS - i've just been on the webcam and no one was moving just one foot to be seen.

Lai

WS

How great to have it confirmed a boy and a girl - i hope we can start with names soon. They are still so tiny.

Thanks for the update and clip WS

Lai

Latest Update


Lily & Hopes Video

WS

Thanks WS.

Lai

Thank you so much WS and Lai for all the updates and the videos, It has been so lovely catching up with Lily and Hope and the cubs, how wriggly they are but I am sure they have grown.

Just loving Ted and Lucky, how cute is it they they have denned together after staying and playing together and what an age difference. It is really comforting to know that the males can den together and have friendship and company and do not have to be alone. I think those two have a very special relationship and it was a lovely read.

littlewid-x-

This one is a cracker




WS

Thanks WS - beautiful to watch

Lai

What a gorgeous family video that was WS, just brilliant. I love the way they all get along and Hope is so caring of the little cubs and it's wonderful that Lily still wants to play with Hope. Thats put a smile on my face, it was lovely.

littlewid-x-

I'm so sorry that I've not been able to post the updates, glad WS has been posting them. They really are such a cute little family. I have the den cam on in the background at work and they sound low so I regularly have a little peek and see Hope playing with one of the cubs. I think she's going to make a great mummy when her turn comes. I wish Gordon and the BBC were going to be out there again this year doing a follow up. It would be so wonderful to see them on the TV.

Any thoughts on any names yet?

Suggestions?

SM

Your right SM its time for names, and we have'nt got long

Let’s Name those Cubs!

Team Bear has kindly offered to run a ‘name the cubs’ contest. The complete rules for the contest are at Contest Rules. But, in short, here’s their plan.

•Everyone email names to cubnamingcontest@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it between 11:00 AM EST Thursday (2/17) and 11:00 AM EST Saturday (2/19).
•Each person submits two names; one for the female and one for the male.
•Please include your own name and complete mailing address with your submission.
•Only one submission per person.
At the end of the 48 hour period, Team Bear will tally the entries and make a ‘Short List’ of the 3 most popular female names and the 3 most popular male names. They will send those 6 names to us for approval. If we have to remove a name like Stinky or Terror, the next most popular name will be inserted until the ‘Short List’ is approved. (We know you wouldn’t name Hope’s sister and brother those names.)

On Sunday (2/20) at 11:00 AM EST, Team Bear will draw a fan name from the emails submitted. The winner then has 24 hours to select two names from the list, one for the male cub and one for the female cub. The winner gets a certificate of honor and a copy of “Lily & Hope – the Light of the Northwoods” by Olatz Azcona Munarriz.

On Monday (2/21) at 8 PM EST, Team Bear will announce the winning cub names. We’re anxious to see the names you come up with! This will begin a new era in the saga of Lily, Hope, and the cubs.

Thank you for all you do.

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

WS

An update on the preference of names

Names for the cubs are coming in to cubnamingcontest@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , although we haven’t looked to what they are. We’re anxious to see your creativity. Since the rules say Lynn and Sue help select from among the top names, it might be fair to share some of our thinking on our preferences. We thought about a nice name to go along with the theme of Hope, but then thought about Hope being special and having the only name that diverges from the naming theme of this lineage—bear foods.

Lily is named after the Calla Lily that is so beautiful and white. Lily’s light face helped inspire that name for her. Lily’s brother is Cal, also in the Calla Lily theme. Her other brother is Bud, named after rosebuds. The calla lily is a major bear food. It grows in marshes and the leaves remains succulent all spring, summer, and fall. That means many of the nutrients are in a digestible fluid form. Bears stop eating blueberries sometimes to go down in marshes to eat these green leaves. It’s amazing, too, because the leaves contain oxalic acid crystals that cause human mucosa to swell and become irritated. Somehow bears tolerate the crystals. Wild calla (Calla palustris) is one of the favored greens in the forest. Bears only occasionally eat rosebuds.

Lily’s mother is named June, full name Juneberry, a favorite berry in early summer. Lily’s aunt was Hazel, which produces the only nut of this region. It is one of the very top bear foods. A good hazelnut crop means females will get fat, stay out of trouble, and have good cub production the ensuing winter. In years of abundant hazelnuts, people wonder where all the bears went.

The female in June’s most recent litter was Jewel, short for Jewelweed, another favorite green. Also called Touch-me-not, it grows in damp soil. It is one of the few greens, like wild calla, that they eat in spring, summer, and fall.

Here’s a list of local bear foods in case it stimulates creativity in continuing the naming theme for this lineage. We know we should have thought of this last night. Thank you for all you are doing.

3-leaf Solomon seal cow wheat pincherry
acorn cranberry raspberry
alder cones dandelion raspberry
alder-leaf buckthorn dewberry red maple
American fly honeysuckle downy arrowwood red osier dogwood
ants fawn red pine
ash fomes fungus rose
aspen goatsbeard round-leaf dogwood
bald-faced hornet gooseberry snowberry
bedstraw grass snowfleas
bilberry grub strawberry
birch hawkweed sweet early coltsfoot
bird hawthorne tent caterpillar
blueberry hazelnut vetch
bull thistle hazelnut violets
bumblebee highbush cranberry water parsnip
bunchberry horsetail wild calla
carrion interrupted fern wild lettuce
caterpillar (Sphinx?) jewelweed leaf wild sarsaparilla
catkins June beetle grubs wild sarsaparilla
cattail juneberry willow
chokecherry large-leaf aster leaf woolgrass
clintonia mountain ash wooly aphid
clover peavine leaf yellow jacket

Thank you for all you are doing.

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

WS

Was going to sending a couple of names, but looks like Im a bit late now. ~ Carson

The Cubs are Named
As many of you already know, the chosen names are Faith and Jason. These names were the most popular names submitted and were the two selected by the anonymous Lily fan who won the honor of selecting the names. She sent the following description of the insightful thoughts of her seven year old grandson for her choices. "Faith is the faith that the learning and love of the bears will go on and on and since you can't name a boy Love, Jason is the next best thing because he shows love in all he does." Thank you again to Team Bear for organizing the selection process and to the 2213 Lily fans who submitted names.


Jason Sawyer, fittingly, came through again for us all today. He made two trips to the den shed to repair the microphone cable where it had been chewed through by a snowshoe hare. He hadn’t gone prepared for a broken cable the first time, so he repaired it the best he could with materials on hand. After a trip back for supplies he returned to make a ‘proper’ repair. The static from the broken cable is gone and we have sound again. Hopefully the repair will hold for the rest of the den season. And hopefully that wrascally wabbit moves on or chooses more nutritious and less destructive fare!

WS

They are delightful names aren't they and I love the meanings behind them both, so we have Lily, Hope, faith and Jason
Thanks for posting all that WS.

littlewid-x-

Is it not supposed to be Faith Hope and Charity

Its got a bit of the Monty Python about Hope Faith and Jason.

Just glad they have names and things are still going ok. Im hoping Lily has learned her lessons in bringing up cubs with Hope and does not go off on them. Fingers Crossed!

SM

I thought the same SM - Faith, Hope and Charity.

Love the comparison to Monty Python

Lai

Charity for a Boy
Feb 22nd update
Vigorous Play
Lily and Hope continue to break the mold of our expectations. As we write this, Lily and Hope are playing vigorously while the cubs nurse uninterrupted. Lily usually holds still when the cubs make their motor-like hum. Is play a more powerful stimulus than the hum of nursing?

In fact, the whole scene of Hope playing vigorously with Lily and gently with the cubs is a surprise. Some of her play with the cubs seems a little rough, but the cubs seldom protest, so we assume it’s okay. All we can do is watch and wonder.

While we wonder what passions and motives drive them, we are intrigued by the similarities with human behavior. Does that statement skate the edge of anthropomorphism? We don’t think so. One would expect some behavioral similarities considering the similarities in our genes and hormones. New technology will continue to open the natural world for people to see, appreciate, and analyze. We are all learning together. All the behavior is open to analysis. Video of Part I of today’s den life


Feb 23rd update
Worried
We’re not worried about Lily and her family. They continue to amaze us with how they burn up energy playing despite the milk Lily is making for all three. What will she weigh when they emerge? This is the first time someone has watched a lactating mother defy all the misconceptions, play like they are doing, and then see how much weight they have lost—at least a ball park estimate. Lily and Hope weighed 234 and 61 on August 28. Lily seems to be transferring a lot of nutrients to Hope, so Hope probably won’t lose as large a percentage as Lily, even though Hope has a larger surface to mass ratio being only about a quarter Lily’s size.

With so many eyes watching, it was one of you who first spotted Jason and Faith’s eyes beginning to open over the weekend. Could they be getting that much milk to speed development? Yesterday (Tuesday the 22nd ), we had to agree when one of the cubs showed a bit of eye shine at 32 days of age. We believe you have been right all along. Maybe this is not as early as we thought, though, because the eyes may not be fully open for another few days, which would put it close to the 6 weeks reported in the literature.

The cubs’ ultra-cute period is about to unfold. They are also just entering their sensitive period for bonding. For the next 6 weeks, they will be tightening their bonds with Lily and Hope. In early April, this sensitive period will be complete. Then, instead of accepting other individuals, they will fear them and react defensively to them. The end of the sensitive period for bonding roughly coincides with the time of emergence.
Recently posted video of last night’s play session and eye shine


WS

Thanks for posting these WS. Its great to see hope interacting with her little brother and sister also that she is another bundle of fur to keep the warm when mum is busy with the den.

SM

Feb 24th Update

Endlessly New
It was a pretty quiet day in the den. Lily mostly had her back to the camera. Then, about 2 PM, she changed position to eat snow. Hope grabbed a cub to play with, and we grabbed some video footage


Is Hope special in the way she plays with the cubs? Does she have motherly instincts already? We wish we had more to compare with. We wish we could definitively determine if she licks the cubs’ bottoms to stimulate defecation and if she cleans them up like Lily does afterward.

WS