Photos and text copyright Romping and Rolling in the Rockies 2009-2017.

All photographs and text within this blog are copyrighted.

You may not copy or repost any photos or text without specific permission from the author of this blog. When in doubt, please ask.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Tiny the Black Bear during Mating Season!

At the end of May, Tiny the Black Bear met a young female bear. The behavior that my trail cams captured enthralled me.

Tiny is one of our biggest male bears, and he stamps his authority over our area by marking trees and stomping around the territory.

Earlier this summer, he met a young female bear during mating season. A problem was that a young male bear was hanging around on the periphery. My trail camera picked up footage of how a huge bear like Tiny handles this type of situation. There was no need to fight - Tiny simply scared the smaller bear away with his behavior.

To do this, Tiny repeatedly marked one tree and then marched stiff-legged toward the interloper. He also vocalized, making grunting noises, and he clacked his teeth together. Teeth clacking is a universal bear behavior of anger or aggression. After that display, the younger bear was gone!

I never thought that I'd capture such cool bear behavior with my trail cameras. I was thrilled to see and hear these videos!

A little later, we see Tiny reunited with the young female with whom he'd been traveling. It was the height of mating season so I suspect that the female will be having Tiny's cubs when she's tucked away in her den this winter!

Here's the video, which you can watch here or at Youtube!


24 comments:

  1. Makes you feel a little sorry for the smaller male! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes - but he's a smart smaller male so he may have the chance to be "Tiny" someday! It's a waiting game for the small males but they do father a few cubs by sneaking around when the big males aren't looking! There's an official biological expression for them that is also obscene. Maybe you can figure it out :) It starts with "sneaky".

      Delete
  2. The clip shows just how big Tiny
    really is. Your trail cam captured the
    secret life of bears, we don't get to see.
    good luck to them.....
    xo Astro

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had heard that teeth clacking was a warning sign. Fascinating to see/hear the behavior via video - much better than experiencing it first-hand. :-) And fascinating to see that cowboy swagger.

    This all transpired before the stick impalement, if I have my dates right. Do you know if Tiny is continuing to do well after shaking off that infection?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have your dates right (you are on top of things!). The last time that I "saw" Tiny was in late June. He appeared to be doing okay. It's normal for him to disappear for long periods of time during the hyperphagia phase, as he's busy gorging himself and searching over very long distances for food. That being said, I'm worried about him. A huge bear with coloration like Tiny's was killed not too far from where my trail cams are. My friends from the area of that incident assure me that the dead bear didn't have any signs of a hind leg injury or fur loss on his hind legs... so it probably wasn't Tiny. However, I won't rest easy until I see him again.

      Delete
  4. So interesting. As I said, better that Nat GEO
    Lily & Edward

    ReplyDelete
  5. How fascinating! I can't wait to see Tiny and his mate's cubs!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This video is AMAZING!!! Thanks for compiling/sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wonder if the female cared who won. Tiny is huge!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is so amazing! I love that you share this with all of us! THANK YOU!
    KZK

    ReplyDelete
  9. Guys love to defend their girls no matter what the creature I guess!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tiny sure is a very BIG bear!!! If I heard those teeth clacking, I would be on the run for sure:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Teeth clacking would send us running, too.
    Could hear the jet. Modern world encroaching on nature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You listened well! The jets have recently been rerouted to go right over our area. We're fighting with the airport about it. Recently, biologists did a study that showed that modern noises were messing up wildlife communication. Birds' songs are drowned. And, I could imagine that a bear's teeth clacking could also be drowned. It's sad, in my opinion.

      Delete
  12. What amazing footage you capture with those cameras! Fascinating!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

    ReplyDelete
  13. Tiny sure isn't, but he's right handsome!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your blogs are always fascinating and informative.

    ReplyDelete
  15. so fascinating to see
    hugs
    Hazel & Mabel

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful footage!! How amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. OMD, that is soooo cool! I haven't ever heard the teeth clackin' befores! Tiny is one big fella, that's fursure! I will keep my paws crossed that he is okays!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow your video is amazing!! And well done Tiny for capturing all that great footage! I'd be a bit scared of bears if I came across one... lucky we only have koala (not bears) where I live!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Simply amazing, Tiny is huge and would scare off more than a small bear. Love it KB!
    Has fall arrived in your neck of the woods yet? It sure feels like it down here on the flatlands-lots of Cicadas are heralding its arrival.
    Hugs,
    Noreen

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fascinating! Looks like 'Tiny' had a few scrapes when he was younger himself judging by the scratches on his snout. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. love it... I smiled while reading Tiny and saw the photo... it reminds me a little of our Easy... all people laughed when they saw our tnt on four legs named Easy ;o)

    ReplyDelete

If you are a Blogger registered user, you can skip the step asking you to verify that you are not a spammer. For posts older than 5 days, I have comment moderation turned on.

Thanks for your comments!!!!!