Researchers and nature lovers are watching the story of an Arctic snowy white owl nest unfold on live camera near Barrow, Alaska.
Around six white owl chicks are starting to emerge from the nesting den near the coast of the Arctic Ocean, the Associated Press reported. Webcam setups such as the explore.org camera trained on the Alaska snowy owl burrow and the site's brown bear live feed could someday replace zoos to give people a real glimpse of animals in the wild.
"These live cams are about more than providing an incredible view of bears or owls during an amazing part of their season," Charles Annenberg Weingarten, explore.org founder and Annenberg Foundation vice president, said in a statement emailed to the AP.
"What we are doing is building out the zoos of the future, where animals run wild and people from everywhere can feel connected to the experience," he said.
Also popular in Alaska, the explore.org camera captures live footage from brown bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Researchers like Denver Holt of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Mont., can study creatures in the wild to learn more about their everyday habits.
"It's just phenomenal to me that these females sit on the nest and they appear to sleep very little," said Holt, who is in the 23rd year of a study about owls and their prey. "They're constantly vigilant for potential threats to the nest, predators."
While scientists are more likely to stay objective, viewers may need to be prepared to watch nature take a tragic course, such as last month's death of a baby eagle caught on camera.
"The nest cam is more of a mirror to reflect what's going on with all eagle nests. It's not to be used as a baby monitor to intervene when we see something that makes us feel sad as humans," said Erynn Call, a raptor specialist with the state of Maine, as quoted by the AP at the time.
The snowy white owl nest can be viewed live here.
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