Bear Cubs Tumble Down Mountainside As Mother Bear Defends Them From Attacking Male

Mother bears have to do what mother bears have to do.

If you’ve ever wished to see how, “If you want them, you’re gonna have to go through me” would play out in the wild, this video should do the trick. Photographer Brad Josephs was out in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska when he and some others witnessed this harrowing bear battle – and managed to get it all on video.

The footage picks up on two bears – one male and one female – brawling it out on a coastal mountainside. Two cubs who were with their mother were caught in the crossfire, so to speak, and went tumbling down the mountain as their mom tried her best to protect them.

That was a tall task, considered she was mightily outweighed by the bigger, attacking boar. Male brown bears in that area can weigh north of one thousand pounds, and though the one in this clip isn’t likely that big, it’s still sizable in comparison to the sow. Females usually max out at around 800 pounds, and this one appears to be much smaller than that.

Known as infanticide, increased sexual opportunity is often cited, perhaps incorrectly, as main factor for why males will try to attack and kill a mother’s cubs. The theory is that sow won’t mate if she still has young cubs so the boar will try and kill the cubs to so that she may enter estrus and be receptive to mating. It’s unclear if that is true.

Either way, most sows will try and fight off the attacking male, but sometimes, the difference in strength and size is just too overwhelming. Male bears might try and eat cubs simply because they’re hungry and it’s an easy meal, but in a resource rich place like Katmai National Park, it seems less likely. The most likely reason for this scrap is simply wild animal dynamics… establishing dominance… not unlike a prison yard.

With that being said, may I invoke the classic saying of, “It’s not the size of the bear in the fight, but instead the size of the fight in the bear.” This mother bear wasn’t backing down, even with her giving up the high ground to her (any Star Wars fans out there?). The only problem was that her defensive fighting style pushed the mother bear back into her cubs, sending them somersaulting down the hillside.

The fighting went on for a good four minutes, and eventually ended with the mother bear standing her ground as the aggressive male lingered nearby. All the mama was worried about was tracking down her cubs, who had been through a somewhat traumatic experience getting caught up in the scuffle.

You can check out the remarkable footage below:

This article by Quinn Eaton was first published by WhiskeyRiff on 16 July 2024. Lead Image: @bradjosephs.

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