Canadian Rockies Wildlife

Identifying Grizzly Bear Mothers in care of Cubs of the Year

Identifying a Grizzly Mother in care of Cubs of the Year(COY) can be tricky sometimes as the Cubs are initially quite small, even blending into grass just a foot long, as you can see here. Grizzly Bear Cubs are born in their Mother's winter den while she is in hibernation(during January or February). Just a few months later, Mother Grizzly will emerge from her den, guiding her new cubs out into her natural territory. We initially thought this very mature Grizzly Sow was a Boar as she was large and no cubs were visible for several minutes. Not only was this beautiful Grizzly a Mother, but caring for three Cubs of the Year. At 0.52, a loud flock of geese flew very low overhead, appearing to trigger a bit of confused defense behavior in Mum for a few seconds that adds to the reasons why these beautiful wild creatures always require lots of room.