BBC: A now-famous wild bear has successfully given birth to a cub, an event shown live on the internet.
Lily the black bear gave birth on Friday 22 January, and mother and offspring have spent the past few days acclimatising to each other.
The birth and subsequent behaviour of the bears is being streamed live via a webcam placed in the bear’s den by biologist Professor Lynn Rogers.
This was the first live birth of a wild bear ever recorded.
Lily has become something of a celebrity in north America.
Her pregnancy has been covered by the media, and she has a Facebook page that has thousands of followers.
However, Professor Rogers has serious reasons to film Lily and her cub via the so-called “bearcam”, not least because it should provide scientists with valuable new insights into bear behaviour.
Lily underwent a labour of almost 22 hours to give birth to a single cub.
Black bears usually produce one or two cubs in their first litter, and those living alongside Lily in the woods of northern Minnesota, US often give birth to three in subsequent litters.
Lily is now insulating her cub against the cold of a heavy snow fall last night, and appears to be successfully nursing it.
“Lily has one job now, keeping her cub warm and fed. Instead of exiting the den periodically, Lily will spend the next couple months hovering over the cub,” says Professor Rogers.