edited.....

Update February 4, 2010 8:04 PM CST

It’s a GIRL! At least until the cub proves us wrong. The video footage captured last night gave us a good look at the cub’s belly and it’s pretty conclusive. The little lump between the legs says ‘female’, and we couldn’t see a lump higher on the belly that would make it a male. We’re also trying to take into account how much we really want it to be a female. A male would move away at 1 or 2 years of age, but a female will stick around for the rest of her life. When their brothers are moving elsewhere, young females are setting up territories nearby—like Lily did a couple years ago. With this female cub, we can study her relationship with her mother Lily and her Grandmother June (age 9) and her Great-Grandmother Shadow (age 20) for years to come. We’ll keep you updated as long as there's interest.

We hear your desire for more Lily memorabilia. We’re working on pictures, mugs, mouse pads, refrigerator magnets, etc. We apologize for the length of time it’s taking us to do this and how long it’s taking to get all the t-shirts out. We’re excited at how nice her 8x10 picture came out. It’s the usual picture of her we all know so well and love—with her gentle eyes and dirt on her nose from digging the den. The light on her face is soft and flattering. Her eyes came out about as nice as any we’ve ever photographed. The photo is from a 1080P high-def video, and we are very impressed with the sharpness.

We’re over 90 percent sure Lily’s cub is a girl—which makes naming it easier. Many of you responded to our earlier request for names. We held off making a decision and we’re glad we waited. During that period of indecision, the largest food chain in the mid-west, Cub Foods, offered to sponsor a ‘Name the Cub Contest’ to help publicize the North American Bear Center. The winner will get $500 in Cub Foods Gift Cards. The Cub Foods advertising, concentrated in the five-state area where most of the visitors to the North American Bear Center come from, could make a big difference to our effectiveness for years to come. Stay tuned for more on this ‘Name the Cub Contest’ in the days ahead. The Lily Den Cam and your interest are making a big difference for bears and for the North American Bear Center.

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

another cub siting.....around 2:00 +, female is rearranging the bedding and cub is in the midst of the bedmaking!! it now shows facial markings to match her Momma!!!

http://www.zaplive.tv/static/wildearth/ ... wbearden01

Isnt that cub the cutest little thing, and loud, very loud. A healthy little girl

seems that they are getting quite organized for a party next summer.......wonder if sidney chamber of commerce (or its equivalent) would be interested in helping with fledgefest activities......???

update:
Update February 5, 2010 5:01 PM CST
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Today at 6:01pm
So many topics.

Lily and the cub seemed comfortable on this mild 25F day. Viewers were treated to a good look at Lily’s face when she look directly into the camera and then raked more bedding under her and snuggled the cub in.

It’s exciting to think of Lily Fans gathering in Ely the last weekend of July. They are well organized and have created a Facebook ‘event page’ at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=193634499970. The Ely Chamber of Commerce (218-365-6123 and www.ely.org) will do whatever it can to facilitate the gathering. Ely is a small town of about 5,000 people, with about 20,000 in the surrounding lakes area in summer. It’s a tourist destination town with lots of restaurants, shops, canoeing outfitters, the North American Bear Center, the International Wolf Center, Soudan Underground Mine tours, and nature trails. Short hiking trails lead to beautiful big waterfalls, one of which will be featured in the BBC/Animal Planet ‘Bearwalker of the Northwoods’ on April 4.

The discussion about pets reacting to the cub’s cries is interesting. Cubs sound enough like human infants to confuse people, and infants sound so much like cubs they confuse mother bears. Confused mothers come toward crying infants making the same sweet grunts we all hear from Lily when her cub cries. Maybe the stories of mother bears taking care of lost children really are true.

I was touched to read reactions of people who watched the Youtube video “Through the Lens—The Bear Man” that musicians Pat and Donna Surface put together as a labor of love. My feelings always well up when I see those pictures—so many memories.

I’m also touched to see the many fundraising ideas you are suggesting for putting the Bear Center on a solid financial footing and to see the donations continue to come in.

—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, North American Bear Center

7:57 head up for good scratch, and back down again....she's facing toward the camera, curled up of course.
nice image of the transmitter on her collar....

Lily the Black Bear

545 cub names submitted in 90 mins -- amazing!

Update February 6, 2010 7:57 PM CST
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Yesterday at 10:15pm
It seems Lily’s Facebook fans know more about black bear hibernation than some wildlife professionals. We saw your responses to last night’s Letterman show and we’re glowing. Lily’s a great teacher and you’ve learned her lessons well.

Last night you saw an example of one of the biggest problems bears face worldwide—wildlife professionals spouting misconceptions. The two errors Jack Hanna made (that mother bears sleep through the birth of cubs, and the age of the cubs) were harmless. But other misconceptions stated with the same sense of conviction color people’s attitudes toward bears, and people will not coexist with animals they fear.

Most leaders of public opinion have not spent enough time with bears to have any firsthand knowledge. This is true for most government officials, professional bear biologists, and professional educators. Many of their statements about bear behavior are misconceptions they’ve read and then repeat as fact.

Misconceptions are often presented subtly—like advice about what a person must do if they encounter a bear. Any advice of that sort carries the implication that if you don’t follow the advice you will be attacked. A common piece of such advice is “Above all, never run because it could trigger a predatory attack.” Next time you hear some professional say that, ask the person if he or she can give an example. We’ve been asking that question for years. One person claimed to have an example but never provided details. In actuality, the real stories we hear are of people seeing bears and saying, “I ran one way and the bear ran the other.”

Much of the erroneous advice comes from people with little or no bear experience. Some people extrapolate from what they believe about tigers, vicious dogs, etc. When educators or officials apply those same beliefs to bears, they lead people to believe they cannot show any fear or vulnerability because bears would love to attack if they only dared. That may be true for one black bear out of a million but certainly not true for the vast majority of bears. Mischaracterizing bears leads to mismanagement and unnecessary killings by police, wildlife officials, and landowners. We’ll discuss other misconceptions in future updates.

Considering the popularity of the Lily Den Cam, we wish Letterman would consider it worthwhile to invite someone associated with the den cam project on his show.

Thank you again for helping decrease the debt so we can spread our message more widely.

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

I seem to keep on missing Cubbie. Fell in love with this
http://www.facebook.com/lily.the.black. ... 3755115498