bear.smallWeb wildlife enthusiasts will be able to watch an American black bear give birth to cubs over the next few days after researchers rigged a webcam inside the bear’s den.

The broadcast, which is being screened on the North American Bear Center website, is the first time bear watchers have attempted to film one of the reclusive creatures giving birth in the wild, according to Lynn Rogers of the Wildlife Research Institute.

Visiting three-year-old Lily, who lives in woods in Minnesota, earlier in January Rogers said “her genitals were swollen like I’ve never seen in 43 years of research.”

“Lily’s den cam is one of the best opportunities of my career to show people how real bears behave. People are falling in love with her,” said Rogers.

Lily has already become a web sensation with thousands of fans on Facebook. Rogers said Lily t-shirts would be available soon and said the bear center hopes to clear its debts with proceeds from the project.

Rogers said the project also served to highlight popular misconceptions about bears.

“Lily is important. Just by being a normal bear going about her business, she is showing a different side of black bears than is put forth in the media and by all those who think it is their duty, above all, to warn people about bears.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 10:51 am and is filed under Mammals, Wild, bears. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.