The live webcast logon screen to Lily the Bear's not-so-private den.

Thousands watch internet bear birth

By: Scott Schmidley

Posted: 1/27/10

Grab your laptop, log on to www.bear.org and navigate to the "Den Cam" link to see a stunning sign of the times for ecological technology. As part of a long-term study near Ely, Minn., on black bear ecology and behavior, Lily the black bear's den was retrofitted with a webcam that is currently broadcasting in real time across the Internet.

But here's the kicker-she just gave birth. After what Wildlife Filmmaker Doug Hajicek called on the Today Show a "violent labor" lasting 21 hours, Lily gave birth to a cub live on the Internet.

The North American Bear Center (NABC) stated that Lily went into Labor at 1:59 p.m. CST on Jan. 21 and bouts of labor continued for nearly 24 hours.

With 63,0000 fans on Facebook, Lily is nuzzling her way into the limelight as interested and undoubtedly curious bear enthusiasts watch all over the globe.

"Action in the den," one of Lily's Twitter account, LilyBlackBear, updates reads.

Though Lily certainly has a large following on the internet, the sex of her new cub probably won't be determinable for another couple of weeks, keeping thousands of Lily fans waiting in suspense.

The average size for this type of newborn cub is only 3/4 lb. and nine inches long, which is remarkably small compared to the size of the mother. The reason for this is hibernation, according to a Lily update by the NABC, "The mother's lowered metabolism means lower blood oxygen levels for the fetuses. Early birth gets them out breathing on their own as soon as possible."

On the morning of Jan. 25, there were nearly 3,000 viewers watching the bear rear her cub. On the day of the birth there were over 14,000, biting their nails waiting for Lily to deliver.

It is a grand stroke of luck for the cub that he or she is the lone cub in the litter. Eliminating competition and maximizing one-on-one time will make growing up easier.

As it is winter and bears hibernate during this time of year, Lily is in a state of hibernation. According to the NABC Web site www.bear.org, there are five stages of the black bear hibernation schedule.

The first stage is hibernation itself, which Lily is in, an approximately seven-month long period (there is some variance based on the location of the bear, but about seven months is accurate in Ely) of time in which a bear does not eat, drink, urinate or deficate. During hibernation, "They can reduce oxygen consumption and metabolic rate by half and breathe only once every 45 seconds," the NABC said.

The second stage takes place in the two to three weeks following the bear's long winter slumber. It is called walking hibernation.

"Normal activity" follows walking hibernation as stage three and lasts from spring to midsummer when bears consume 5,000 to 8,000 calories every day, leading right up to hyperphagia in the fall. Stage four, hyperphagia, is the stage where a bear binges on food and water, consuming 15,000 to 20,000 calories per day to get ready for hibernation. The NABC Web site states that, "Daily urine volumes [during hyperphagia] for two bears were 2-4 gallons."

Finally, the fifth stage of hibernation is fall transition. Fall transition is the stage at which bears become increasingly lethargic as they prepare for their painfully long winter siesta.

The NABC is now calling for volunteers from the public to help watch Lily around the clock, monitoring cub and mother interaction. Volunteers would likely watch Lily on the webcam for a two hour time period and record the movements of the mother, her breaths, strength of the baby's cries and more. For more information about volunteering, check out Lily's Facebook page, "Lily the Black Bear," under the "notes" category.