Adventures of a Young Sow and her Cubs

Our local bear family - mom, a black cub, and a brown cub - was near my cams again recently. First, the black cub appeared all by himself. He's been on camera a number of times now. He is definitely the bolder of the two cubs!

In contrast, the more timid brown cub stays near mom. In this photo, "Brownie" is running down the hill to look for his sibling. You can see mom up above him.

Eventually, Blackie galloped up the hill to chase down his family.

It's rare that we get a view a fairly wide area to watch the whole family at once. I enjoyed seeing it.

Then, one week later, mom led the family to a water hole so that she could take a bath. She carefully cleaned her face, again and again. She was so blissed out by her bath that she seemed to forget about her cubs.

When her long bath (4 minutes!) was over, she went to look for the cubs. She had to look for a while. In this photo, she is looking directly down the slope where the cubs eventually emerged.

Mom exited to the right of this view. (As an aside, I now recognize this sow. Her name is "Mohawk", and this is her first litter of cubs that I know of. She's a young bear.)

After Mohowk was out of sight, her cubs filed up the hill. The cubs didn't seem to find her immediately. They sprinted back and forth a few times but I am sure that they found her.

I put together a video of this family during these adventures which I hope that you enjoy. I find baby animals to be the most fun to watch!