See mama black bear stare down brown bear to protect cub in Alaska national forest
A mama black bear sent a very direct signal using only her eyes and body language to ward off a brown bear who stumbled upon her and her cub inside a national forest in southeast Alaska, video shows.
Video posted to Tongass National Forest Facebook page July 30 shows a black bear cub clinging to a tree near a creek while its mom posts up at the base to separate her cub from what looks like a much bigger brown bear up on a nearby ledge.
Then the mama bear calmly walks closer to the brown bear, stares it down and seems to move her head back and forth as if she’s telling it to back off, all while her cub hides in the tree.
“Momma bear stare down!” officials with the U.S. Forest Service wrote on the post.
It seems to work. The brown bear turns to go at the end of the video.
“Anan is one of the only bear viewing sites in the world that has both brown & black bears. Which leads to encounters like this where a black bear made a brown bear exit the area to protect her cub hiding up a tree,” officials said. “Such an ample food source keeps most interactions between the different species non-violent.”
All five species of Pacific salmon spawn inside the forest, and the bears feed on the abundant food supply, according to the Alaska Wilderness League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting Alaska wilderness and waters.
Viewers shared their thoughts about the mama bear’s display of dominance in comments on the video.
“Mama says not having it,” someone said.
This story was originally published August 7, 2023 at 5:42 PM with the headline "See mama black bear stare down brown bear to protect cub in Alaska national forest."
