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.
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“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.