Although grizzly bears are massive, imposing creatures, they’re not frequent hunters. They are more likely to scavenge a meal or gather food than hunt something down and kill it. However, you wouldn’t know that by the tenacity displayed by the persistent grizzly bear featured in this video.
The video starts with a female moose with two small calves walking down a path in Denali National Park. A grizzly bear runs in from offscreen and slows to a trot, keeping pace with the moose. Although moose are large creatures, they are vulnerable while calving, when they are young, and when lone adults are with their young.
Adult males do not raise their young, and they don’t stick around in groups with females. That means this mother moose is on her own with a large predator lurking behind her. The grizzly bear may be hunting the mother or the calves. Grizzlies are most likely to take down adults in the springtime (when this video was recorded.)
The grizzly bear is very large, and it’s clearly carrying some winter fat. The grizzly gets within 50 feet or so, and then the mother moose reacts. She turns around and charges the grizzly, putting her size and fierceness on display.
The moose is larger, taller, and outweighs the grizzly bear. The large moose could potentially kick and stomp the bear to death. The grizzly knows this and backs away. The moose returns to her young, but the persistent grizzly isn’t far behind.
Rather than allow the grizzly to continue sneaking up behind them, the mother stops and faces it. The grizzly freezes. The moose charges again, scaring the grizzly bear off once more.
The moose family wanders farther down the trail, reaching a parking lot. The grizzly sprints in for a moment, but the moose stands her ground, and chases it off again. With the sun setting, the mother moose decides to take direct action. After chasing the grizzly away one more time, the mother moose takes her young and crosses a river.
The video fades out for a moment and resumes with the grizzly bear coming back into focus. This time, it doesn’t know where to go. It sniffs the ground, trying to find a scent. Based on what the videographer wrote in the comments, the grizzly has lost sight and the scent of the moose and her young. They’re safe, at least for now. If the grizzly had caught the moose, it may have killed the mother and the young ones alike. For now, though, the mother moose has prevented an attack from this very persistent grizzly bear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M12HHvXSKno
Up Next: See More Grizzly Bears in Action
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- Watch an Alaskan Grizzly Bear Run & Swim 1+ Miles to Catch a Wild Caribou in Incredible Video
The post This Persistent Grizzly Keeps Stalking A Moose Family, But Mama Says ‘Nope’ appeared first on AZ Animals.
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