Tag: bear cub

Momma bear rescues panicking, crying cub in swift river crossing

A momma grizzly bear teaching its cub how to cross rivers in Yellowstone National Park was forced to rescue the little one.

A momma grizzly bear teaching its cub how to cross rivers in Yellowstone National Park was forced to rescue the little one as it loudly cried out in a panic in the rushing water of the Soda Butte River.

“I don’t think I have ever recorded grizzly cub cries like that before,” Ron Sterbenz told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors.

Sterbenz of Yellowstone Video on YouTube regularly videotapes wildlife in the iconic park during the tourist season. He recently captured the various steps in the grizzly’s teaching process, including the rescue.

“This one is a grizzly sow who swims a number of the Lamar/Soda Butte river forks while scaring her cub to death,” Sterbenz told For The Win. “She is a kind of odd sow as you can see in the video.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Yellowstone National Park issues warning of ‘danger’ to tourists

“In one part she is scolding the cub for not following her across the river and attacks the 1-year-old [sequence starts at the 2:40 mark]. Next, she is leading him into a faster fork and the cub cries out loud fearing downing [sequence starts at the 6:45 mark].

“I barely had time to catch it, but I did. The cub makes to the bank, so it’s a happy ending.

In the rescue, the momma bear gets alongside the cub and swims toward the bank, essentially pushing the cub along. They both climb out and, as Sterbenz states, it’s a happy ending.

Photo courtesy of Ron Sterbenz.

Watch: Tiny cub getting assist from momma bear is ‘cuteness overload’

A newborn cub was lagging behind, prompting momma bear to hastily go back to retrieve it as traffic waited for the road to clear.

Traffic in a small Connecticut town came to a standstill Sunday when a momma bear appeared in the road and hastily retreated to retrieve its newborn cub, which was lagging behind.

Momma bear dragged the tiny cub into the middle of the first lane, dropped it and apparently told it to follow her. Before exiting the road, momma bear turned to ensure the cub made it safely across.

The encounter occurred in Avon with footage captured by a bicyclist.

The person who posted the video described it like this to ViralHog:

“I was riding my bike and came across a Mama Bear trying to cross the road with her newborn cub. The Mama bear was very protective and stared at both sides of the road to ensure that there was no danger and then began crossing the road. She had to go back and drag her cub onto the road, after which this little tiny cub cutely crosses the road.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Angler pulls 57-pound trout through the ice; ‘I was frozen’

The reaction from viewers was predictable. A sampling from the commenters on the YouTube post:

“Oh my…cuteness overload, I’ve never seen a baby cub so small. Thank you for posting this.”

“That cub is so very tiny! I love that the people stopped to allow mama bear to get her cub across safely to the other side.”

“Beautiful.”

“That is the smallest cub I have ever seen.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=421396721]

Bear cub ‘readjusts’ trail camera perfectly to capture variety of critters

A bear cub moved a trail camera in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota and the results were ‘surprisingly good.’

A bear cub wandering by a trail camera in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota noticed the unusual contraption on a tree and decided it needed readjusting.

After poking around with its nose, the cub angled the trail camera in just the perfect spot to capture a variety of critters. The Voyageurs Wolf Project called the results “surprisingly good.”

Besides several wolves from the Windsong Pack and the bear family with its trail-camera-adjusting cub, the camera picked up a bobcat, fisher weasel and—one of the more popular of the sightings—a ruffed grouse.

Also on FTW Outdoors: Can you spot the python ‘sitting on the throne’?

The Voyageurs Wolf Project studies wolves and their prey, such as moose, deer and beavers, in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, which includes the area in and around Voyageurs National Park.

“This video is from this fall,” the Voyageurs Wolf Project Facebook post explained. “The bear cub messed with the camera in early September and all footage is from then until end of October when we checked on the camera.”

Why did the cub mess with the camera? Voyageurs Wolf Project thought it might be because of the camera’s scent or that it stands out as something different, since the cameras aren’t well hidden.

Photo courtesy of Voyageurs Wolf Project.  

[listicle id=1990072]

Watch bear cub’s ‘brilliant recovery’ after waterfall tumble

A brown bear cub fishing next to mom atop a waterfall in Alaska was caught on video slipping into the turbulence below and briefly disappearing.

A brown bear cub fishing next to mom atop a waterfall in Alaska was caught on video slipping into the turbulence below and disappearing underwater.

“Who else held their breath watching this?” Explore.org, which operates live bear cameras on the Brooks River,” asked followers via Twitter. Explore describe the cub’s recovery as “brilliant.”

The footage posted below shows the cub vanishing into swirling whitewater after losing its footing atop the falls. Mom looks concerned as her cub struggles and is approached by another large bear.

But as the cub frantically swims toward shallow water near the bank, mom arrives to greet and check on her offspring.

It was a valuable lesson for the cub, who is learning how to catch sockeye salmon migrating up the Brooks River. The mom, Bear 910, is among the many brown bears that appear frequently on Explore’s popular live camera feeds.

Momma bear in Yellowstone has ‘paws full’ with misbehaving cub

Video shows a momma bear in Yellowstone National Park at wits end with her misbehaving cub as it plays a game of “Catch me if you can.”

A momma bear in Yellowstone National Park appears to be at wits end with her misbehaving cub as it plays a game of “Catch me if you can.”

Momma bear is definitely fed up with the cub’s antics, as she gets a little rough, including whipping the young one around at the 5:00 mark in the video produced by Ron Sterbenz of Yellowstone Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJuSNr8Jh64

“I had never seen that rough behavior before on a cub,” Sterbenz told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “Mom’s patience was clearly wearing thin that morning. I have heard that black bears don’t always make great mothers, but I am not really sure what folks mean by that. As rough as she was on it, I wasn’t surprised that she only had one left.”

Sterbenz shot the footage in May in the northern tier of Yellowstone on the southeast hillside of Elk Creek. He condensed about 25 minutes of video down to the 6½ minutes he posted.

“When I later assembled the video sequences there were times that cub played and climbed a tree after this rough handling so it didn’t seem like it was running away,” Sterbenz told For The Win Outdoors. “In fact, the cub later followed mom over a couple logs and I think bedded down to nurse. I waited another half hour, but neither reappeared.

“Like children of every species, they will test the patience of their parents every once in awhile.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Yellowstone tourist is no ‘bison whisperer,’ just reckless

There was plenty of sympathy for the momma bear from viewers of Yellowstone Video. Among the comments:

“This mother has her paws full. The cub is too funny, but Mama isn’t laughing.”

“Poor mama bear, she must be thinking ‘Lord give me patience.’”

“That mother is going to have to spank him. This just made my day!!”

“Poor mom. Kids never listen to moms even with animals, but that’s what moms do, love and care.”

“Good thing she only has the one. That cub has a very independent streak.”

“Well, we all know what this is…some days Mom has just had enough.”

“This little one is a hand full lol….he pushed every button she had….then climbed a tree…..little stinker.”

“That’s one defiant and very independent cub! Such a little rascal! It knew it had the advantage as it didn’t weigh enough to break through the snow, yet momma bear did! Delightful video.”

Photo courtesy of Ron Sterbenz.

[listicle id=1024028]

Watch: Bear joins startled hunters in tree stand

Video footage has surfaced showing a large bear cub joining two startled bow hunters in their tree stand.

Video footage has surfaced showing a large bear cub joining two startled bow hunters in their tree stand.

The footage, posted below, also shows the hunters trying to remain calm out of fear of startling the bear, which at times was only inches away.

Wes Marchak told For The Win Outdoors that he and his brother were hunting bears from the stand last May in the Canadian province of Manitoba when another cub chased its sibling up the tree.

The footage, uploaded to YouTube by Viral Hog on Monday, shows Marchak giggling as the cub was just opposite his brother farther up the tree. “It was my brother’s first time hunting,” Marchak said, declining to provide his brother’s name.

ALSO ON FTW OUTDOORS: That was no snag; angler lands record catfish

The young bear, once it realized it was not alone, quickly returned to the forest floor.

Marchak explained that momma bear had long since left the cubs, which were about 4 years old, to fend for themselves. The hunters did not harm the cubs.

Marchak, however, said he had been hunting “a certain bear with great size and lots of meat to fill my freezer,” and harvested that bruin a few days later.

–Image courtesy of Wes Marchak