January:  The full moon in January is sometimes called the ‘bear moon'.  Black bear cubs are generally born in January.  The mother bear licks them clean, keeps them warm and moves into positions to make it easier for them to nurse.

February:  All bears continue to hibernate.  Newborn cubs continue to grow as mother bears care for them.

March:  Hibernation continues.  The testosterone (sex hormone) levels of adult male black bears begin to rise. 

Photo: Glenn & Nancy Krause March 16, 2003

Yes, snow accumulates on black bears at ambient temperatures below approximately 19 degrees Fahrenheit.  The photo shows a 3-year-old female black bear in an open den.  The temperature is 9 F (-13C).  The last time it snowed was 6 days earlier.  Her head is to the right, tucked under her chest to breathe on cubs that were born in mid-January.  The bear knows and trusts the photographers and continued her care of the cubs for the picture.

In fall 1999, Whiteheart gave researchers and the public the first views of how bears behave in the darkness of their dens when no one is around. 

Whiteheart denned 120 yards from a house with a telephone and electricity.  The homeowner let Ely researchers and Discovery Channel install an infra-red den cam and send images of Whiteheart to Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland and on to the internet.

(see video below) 

The cub probe is an Aqua-Vu Infra-red Underwater Camera donated by Jeff Zernov of Nature Vision, Inc. (Baxter, MN) and adapted for den use by TV producer Doug Hajicek. It works in total darkness. 

Ely researchers used it to observe and videotape Blackheart and her newborn cubs in a den in March 2000.  Some of the videotape was used in "The Man Who Walks With Bears" on Animal Planet.

(see video below)