Cute grizzly bear cub of the day

An adorable first year cub plays with his feet while his mother grazes on high protein sedge grass.

Grizzly Bear Vagina

This photo shows a female grizzly bear’s vagina during mating season.  Her genitals are swollen and more visible than other times of the year.  This suggests that male bears may use their sense of sight (in addition to smell) to determine if a female bear is in estrus (ovulating).

Grizzly bear females will ovulate once a year usually in May and June.  If her eggs are successfully fertilized, the baby bears will be born in the middle of winter while she is in her den.  Her eggs may be fertilized by more than one grizzly male, meaning that grizzly bear siblings may have different fathers.  Occasionally you will wonder about this when you spot cubs that are the same age but drastically different sizes.

Grizzly Bear Male Watching Female

This grizzly bear male was enamored of our favorite bear Cheetah.  Here, he starts approaching her with curiosity.
Cheetah, however, had no interest in him at all and charged at him roaring like an angry lioness.

After a bit of roaring and posturing, Cheetah settled down for a nap in the grass.  The smaller male grizzly bear lurked nearby peeking at Cheetah through the grass.

Photographing Grizzly Bears

Katmai National Park in South Central Alaska is one of the best and safest places in the world to photograph grizzly bears.  Here, a large male grizzly strolls by a National Geographic photographer, completely ignoring him.

Grizzly Bear Male

A huge male grizzly bear pauses for a bite of grass while pursuing a female grizzly during mating season.  This male was really fun to watch.  For about a week we saw him plodding along after female grizzly bears.  Here’s a photo of him following a potential mate.:

Click here to read more about this grizzly bear couple.

Grizzly Bear Trails

A grizzly bear trail cutting through sedge grass meadows.  Notice how the trail is carved with actual footprints because the bears step in each others footprints.  Scent glands in their feet leave messages for the next bear to pass by.

Grizzly Bear Spots a Salmon

A grizzly bear female (the mother of the bear in the previous post) spots a splash made by a dashing salmon.  You can see the splash in the right bottom corner of the photo.  Grizzly bears stand on their hind legs in the water searching for these types of small splashes made by the salmon.  This salmon is trying to dash up stream during low tide.  Because the water is so low, the salmon’s dorsal fin causes a ripple in the surface of the water.  Grizzlies use their keen eye sight to see salmon, as well as listening for the sound of a splash.

Third-Year Grizzly Bear Cub “Racer”

Third year grizzly bear cub named “Racer” hunts for salmon during low tide.  Although quite large, he was still nursing from his mother the summer I took this photo.  We spotted him the following year looking huge and healthy and living on his own.  Just like his mother, he was super skilled at fishing.

Grizzly Bears Safely Near People

A grizzly bear female strolls by my husband John.  On the coast of Katmai National Park, all tourists/bear viewers walk on the ground with the bears.  Often bears will approach you closely out of curiosity.

Grizzly Bear Mothers

Here you can see the two mother grizzly bears of the cubs in the previous post.  All four grizzlies were grazing on grass together, however the cubs were more interested in wrestling than eating.