In the Middle Ages, the female bear gave birth to shapeless cubs by design

In the Middle Ages, bestiaries claimed that the female bear gave birth to barely formed cubs. This supposed peculiarity allowed her to satisfy the male, who refused to mate as long as she was pregnant. The female bear then licked her young for a long time to give them shape, an act associated by Hildegard of Bingen and the authors of the time with divine resurrection.