ARCHIVED WILDLIFE

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

OK...since I know nothing about bears, here's my question...Lily and Hope den together? what if Lily is pregnant...and Hope's in the den? If Lily delivers a cub, then what happens to Hope?

I need a lesson please... :wildman:

eiguoc · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:42 am

Gentle Lily

Update October 25, 2010 – 8:09 PM CDT

It’s hard to find a gentler bear than Lily. She has never swatted anyone. She has never bitten in anger. Like a dog, she may gently communicate using her mouth. She has never harmed anyone. She is calm and tolerant while having her bulky radio-collar and GPS unit replaced with a small, light radio-collar for the winter, as we did today. And most of all, she is gentle with Hope.

Little Hope, becoming big Hope, regularly runs Lily off food. If Lily finds something good to eat, Hope comes in and takes it with no protest from Lily. Hope treats Lily like a sibling she can dominate. Gentle Lily backs off every time.
We saw that again today as we were taking Lily’s heart rate. To do that, we gave Hope a few hazelnuts to distract her and gave Lily a few of the same to occupy her. Lily’s heart rate was slow, varying between 36 and 48 beats per minute. Except when Hope came to steal Lily’s nuts.

Each time Hope approached, Lily’s heart rate rose to around 60. This is slower than her summer rate in the 80’s and 90’s, of course, but today 60 represented a significant increase over her calm rate of 36 to 48.

Yet, Lily and Hope also calmly snuggle down together. As they settle in for the winter, we no longer see the rough play they did earlier in the summer.

The area around their den shows evidence of more raking.

Lily is still the watchdog of the two. When she is outside the den, she spends a lot of time sniffing the air, pivoting her ears, and looking into the forest.

From what we are seeing, Lily will likely be a gentle, faithful mother with her next litter.

eiguoc · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:35 pm

Playing catch up
Oct 22 pink sky at Bird Point

Oct 24 Bird Point. since the water is so low in the lake (lack of rain) 2 does & a small fawn were playing in the shallows

Oct 24 a blue morning at bird Point

Oct 26 2 bucks going at it in Deer Run

kittenface · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:23 pm

eiguoc
Those are just gorgeous pictures :wow:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

Beautiful...thanks Pat!!!

Beth · **Posted:** Wed Oct 27, 2010 4:03 pm

Update 10-27-10 ...

eiguoc · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:00 am

Rain, rain, and more rain

October 26, 2010 – 7:30 PM CDT

This was a day of staying inside, staying dry, and getting office work done ('3 faces of Hope' pics from yesterday).

If Lily had picked the wet den, she would have learned today it was time to move. Big downpour. The storm is making national news. Barometric pressure records are falling all over the state. Grand Rapids, 74 miles southwest of Lily’s den, set the all time Minnesota low of 28.28 inches of mercury about 10 AM this morning, and it was still dropping at that time. Lily and Hope’s present, drier den is a few more inches above the water table. It is in a cedar swamp but on higher ground than the wet den was. They may be wishing they had chosen the den they dug in September on the top of the hill, but that one had an unusually big entrance. We suspect part of the entrance collapsed while they were digging for it to end up that big. Maybe they thought that den didn’t provide enough protection.

All we can say is “Darn.” That den would have been within reach of electricity and DSL telephone and could have provided the same bandwidth as this past winter. The den they eventually chose will require us to use a cell phone, and the upload speed there is only 0.35 mega-bits per second. That’s about a sixth the speed of last winter. The Den Cam team is looking for ways to increase that with a big antenna and maybe an amplifier. One member suggested putting a temporary cell phone tower there. We don’t know what is possible yet along that line. The den is on private property, which can be good or bad. We called the property owner of record a few days ago but have not heard back. Today, we learned who the other property owners are and will call one or more of them tomorrow.

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:50 am

This is great news and not so good as far as the DSL thing goes lets hope
that the owners are good nature loving people and will allow all the things that
need to be done to keep track of the 2 of them.

eiguoc · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 4:19 pm

WOW!!

It almost took me 2 years to see my first armidillo. There were 2 of them bouncing along the ground at Turkey Hollow, cute. Took me a while to clue i to what I was seeing

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

WOW is right!!! I've never seen one there!!! Great catch!!!

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

Thanks for the update!!!

That's a agreat pic and boy has he/she grown!!!

kittenface · **Posted:** Thu Oct 28, 2010 10:25 pm

Wow great catch on that eiguoc,
I never even thought that they would be there :leaveok:

Catbird · **Posted:** Fri Oct 29, 2010 8:35 pm

The "Deer Trail" cams provide a panoramic view of deer and other critters with three side-by-side live cams.

http://www.deertrail.us/

Thanks to Dutch Eagle Fan for finding and recommending these cams!

Catbird · **Posted:** Fri Oct 29, 2010 8:36 pm

I just checked the cams a couple of minutes ago and found a deer on the center cam!

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

Fingers crossed...we're getting close...

October 29th update:

Friday, October 29
I’m sleeping with my phone next to the bed. We are expecting Lun Lun to go into labor anytime now. The latest hormone results show that her progesterone is declining and nearing baseline. We expect a birth when progesterone is near or at baseline levels. She is still cooperating well with ultrasound sessions. Yesterday, the fetus measured 7.9 cm in length. The heartbeat is strong and regular and the tiny toes are now visible. Lun Lun is still spending most of her time sleeping, but she has also been getting up mostly at night to eat bamboo. This year she’s been doing more nest building than in previous years. She has been shredding bamboo to add to the hay we provide in her nest box. We are eagerly awaiting this cub, as I’m sure all of you are too. Keep checking the website, because I expect there will be an announcement in the next few days. I hope it’s that Lun Lun has a healthy cub and all is well.
Rebecca Snyder, PhD
Curator of Mammals

Catbird · **Posted:** Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:52 am

Here's the panoramic view of the three side-by-side cams, with a blue jay in the center cam and a squirrel in the right-hand cam.

Prior to this, there were lots of chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers at the feeders and the pond.

Dutch Eagle Fan · **Posted:** Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:44 am

These are from yesterday:

Refill and cleaning the small pond:

*

<---Click

*

<---Click

I love the panoramic view. Sometimes the three cams are not in sync. Restart the one that is ahead the most, that usually fixes it.

Beth · **Posted:** Sat Oct 30, 2010 4:54 pm

Thanks for the update SgB :leavestup:

On facebook they want everyone to send a e-mail/contact Earth Cam at

to ask for extended hours for Zoo Atlanta Panda Cam!

Beth · **Posted:** Sat Oct 30, 2010 5:09 pm

On facebook they said the final say was EarthCam...Glad to know who is
making the decisions. Really wish they could have the 24/7 during the birthing
week...

Thanks for the info Carly :leafwave:

skygirlblue · **Joined:** Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:18 pm **Posts:** 63599

OMG...check out this "cutie"!!!! AMAZING!!!

Zoo Atlanta Observes First 4-D images of Giant Panda Fetusby Zoo Atlanta on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 11:55am

Lun Lun’s third cub seen in unprecedented detail

Lun Lun’s third cub already has a head start on breaking records – even in advance of his or her birth. Zoo Atlanta has become the first zoological institution in the United States ever to observe 4-D ultrasound images of a giant panda fetus.

On October 28, Preferred Medical Systems, LLC loaned the Zoo Atlanta Animal Care and Veterinary Teams a GE ultrasound machine capable of capturing a level of detail never before observed for unborn giant pandas. The images include 4-D images, or 3-D images that can be rotated in space, of the cub moving in Lun Lun’s womb.

The fetus, which was 7.9 centimeters long on October 28, continues to display rapid growth and a strong regular heartbeat. The Veterinary Team now estimates that a birth should take place within a week. "Based on the latest ultrasound images Lun Lun could go into labor at any time,” said Dwight Lawson, Deputy Director.

Round-the-clock birth watch began on October 18. The third offspring of Lun Lun and 13-year-old Yang Yang, the cub will be the only giant panda born in the U.S. in 2010. While current information points to an impending birth, experts caution that Lun Lun could still miscarry or reabsorb the fetus, even at this advanced stage of pregnancy.

Fans are encouraged to stay abreast of all things panda by following Zoo Atlanta on zooatlanta.org and on Twitter, joining the Zoo Atlanta Facebook community, and registering for biweekly eUpdate newsletters.

Bird Cams Around the World

ARCHIVED WILDLIFE

Who is online