Lily the Bear Cam Captures Live Birth of Cub

by Rebecca Quimby (Subscribe to Rebecca Quimby's posts): Jan 28th 2010 @ 1:00PM Filed Under: Pets News

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? Well, it might be true -- if you're Lily the Bear, anyway. This three-year-old black bear, living outside of Ely, Minn., has been observed via live Web cam throughout the course of her hibernation as part of a research experiment led by the Wildlife Research Institute. The "Lily Show" was established to observe her behaviors in the den. And people watching on January 22 got to see a very special episode: the birth of Lily's cub!

This marks the first time a bear giving birth has ever been recorded in the wild (or on Facebook). Thousands tried tuning in, causing the Bear Cam to experience server overload. A video of the event later was posted on YouTube for all to see. No screaming at the father and carrying on for this new mother. A few grunts here, a cub squeak there, and, as the official tweet announced, "Mother and cub are resting peacefully." No word on where Lily registered for baby gifts.

You can see what Lily is up to on camera right now, and if you missed the birth, you can watch it in the video below. If that's not enough Lily action to satisfy you, you also can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.