Last month I shared a pic of this pretty lady’s cute cub. Now, here is a look at mama herself.
Taken in Yellowstone National Park, the bears were on one side of the road. On the other, a massive bison bull was working its way down the hill. Mama bear wasn’t concerned one bit with the humans in the car but that bison, well, she was quite intent on keeping an eye on him.
It was an interesting bit of interaction between the two species. The bison drew closer, I think only because he happened to want to go that way. As he did, the sow kept her cub close and she eventually stood up, something bears do when they want to get a better look at something.
Unlike what you see in the movies, bears usually stand up only for that reason, not as a sign of aggressiveness. Having evaluated the path of the oncoming bison and its proximity, mama bear decided it was time to leave right after this image was taken. Truly a fun encounter and something few have probably ever witnessed.
Photographer’s note: While we were somewhat close to this bear, it should be noted that the encounter started a good ways from the bear. The bear then closed the distance to us in a seemingly purposeful attempt to use our vehicle as a shield against the bison. Further, this was taken with a 500mm lens and the image cropped making it seem like we were closer than we really were. We were never dangerously close nor was the bear alarmed by our presence – unlike how it reacted to the bison. 😉
