Watch These Grizzly Bear Triplets Stay on High Alert for Each Other While Mom Is Away

Key Points

• Grizzly bear cubs stay with their mother for a few years.
• As adults, bears are solitary creatures except for motherhood.
• North America only has 60,000 grizzly bears left in the country.

Grizzly bears are at the top of the food chain as apex predators in every place they inhabit. Their growing bodies require plenty of food to keep going until they hibernate in the winter, but cubs don’t hunt for themselves. Staying close to their mother, they need more time to develop their life skills before they venture out on their own. Let’s take a look at the typical behavior of these bear cubs with their siblings and mother as the video below shows.

Do Grizzly Bear Cubs Usually Look Out for Each Other?

Grizzly bears have many ways to communicate with sounds, gestures, and scents. Mothers moan and grunt to interact with their cubs or attract potential mates. To mark their territory, they rub their body along trees, leaving their scent behind. Bear cubs follow the example of their parents to learn how to communicate with other bears.

For the most part, grizzly bears stay alone except for mothers and their offspring. When danger approaches, bear cubs typically climb up trees with their strong front claws. If a threat appears, the mother protects her young, but bear cubs usually focus on their safety, rather than the group’s.

How Long Do Grizzly Bear Cubs Stay With Their Mother?

Cubs rely heavily on their mother for almost three years, though the previously recorded time was a year shorter. As changes happen in local environments, these cubs have to learn how to hunt, communicate, and survive from their mother. Bear cubs don’t even leave their den until their first spring. Once they leave, the mother teaches them all of the skills they need while continuing to feed them. Separation comes naturally when the cubs know how to take care of themselves.

What is the Worldwide Grizzly Bear Population?

While these bears formerly had almost the entire western side of the country to roam, their diminishing habitats leave them with almost no room to spread out. They lost 98% of their former habitat, which is why so few still roam the wild. Currently, there are about 60,000 grizzly bears in the wild in North America, though about half of them are in Alaska.

Local recovery efforts in the United States greatly help. Since 1975, conservation work has continued to bring up the population since 1975. The northern Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park both experienced major improvements. With better access to rivers and streams to fish, these bears maintain a healthy diet.

What Do Grizzly Bears Cubs Eat?

Grizzly bear cubs rely entirely on their mothers while they learn to eat. As mammals, they drink milk from their mother when they are very young. As they learn to hunt, they consume fish, rodents, and hoofed animals as their main sources of protein. Since these bears are omnivorous, they might also forage for berries, fruits, roots, and grass.

Check Out This Video of Three Inquisitive Bears Cubs