GRIZZLY BEARS IN ALBERTA
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The movie takes about 2 or 3 minutes to download. In the meantime, enjoy the story and it will begin playing on its own.
In the late summer of 2005 we drove out to Cadomin looking for Grizzly Bears. Gaye's cousin had just been there the weekend before and sent us some pictures of a grizzly bear. We were both instantly jealous as we have been trying to get pictures of Grizzly Bears in the wild for a couple years, but have struck out on every trip. Once again, this weekend we saw lots of wildlife, but no grizzlies. Finally on the last day of the long weekend, we saw these three bears.
The lighter coloured bear is the Sow (female, in this case the mother), the dark coloured bear is a two year old boar (male) and the third bear is a 7 month old cub. The two year old cub will remain with his mother for one more hibernation, then mommy bear will kick him out. Hopefully mommy will have another baby this winter.
Please note that we have very powerful camera equipment. We did not get out of our vehicle and we kept our distance. Bears may look slow, but they can run the length of a football field in about ten seconds. Also, if you watch the whole movie, you will get a better appreciation for their power as they dig roots up out of the ground and eat them. If a bear cub can dig up tree roots, you can imagine what even a bear cub could do to a careless human that gets too close.
In Alberta, grizzly bear sows don't have cubs until they are 5 years old. Even then, they typically only have one cub each year. Alberta's grizzly bear population is dwindling and in trouble. In Alaska and along the west coast it is common for grizzlies to have twins and triplets. Unfortunately, here in Alberta, areas that grizzlies can flourish are few and far between. With human expansions, our grizzly population continues to decline.