Communicating with Bears: Grizzlies


Once two bear biologists in Alaska were walking along a coastal salmon trail preoccupied with their work when, all of a sudden, they came upon a huge female with two young cubs sitting in the middle of the trail not 40 feet away. They stood together, appalled, and talked quietly to each other. Mama bear got up and looked each one up and down thoroughly. Then she woofed to her cubs and casually walked down to the creek. She then proceeded to make big splashes with her forepaws and all they could see was her big furry behind. The two men figured out that they were being granted safe passage and hurried on their way. When they were about a hundred feet away, they looked back and there was mama bear lying in the middle of the trail with her two cubs calmly watching them depart. This was their first real awareness that bears were thinking beings.

I have heard of other similar stories. The trick seems to be to act calm and quiet and meek and mild-mannered. If you can communicate to mama bear that it was all a mistake and you have no designs on her precious babies, she would have no reason to hurt you. Far better is to not allow such a situation to happen in the first place by suitably announcing your arrival well in advance. Remember that to a grizzly you are small and weak yet mysterious and deadly, sort of the way a poisonous snake seems to us. A mama grizzly will be about as happy to see you near her cubs as a human mother would be happy to see a big rattlesnake near her baby. Don't think mama bear will be slow to deal with the situation if you come across as a threat. In the Old Testament (somewhere in Hosea) it says, "I will fall upon them with the fury of the she-bear robbed of her cubs!" It's not something you really want to see.

Grizzlies have a surprisingly large number of social signals; one bear biologist was able to identify at least 40 that grizzlies used in interacting with each other. It might help to know a few. If a bear feels uncomfortable with your presence, he is likely to start yawning or foaming noticeable at the mouth. He will keep the head fairly up and probably look away. Looking away shows

The copyright of the article Communicating with Bears: Grizzlies in Bears is owned by Gerald Eugene Smith. Permission to republish Communicating with Bears: Grizzlies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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