Small Grizzly bear

These shots were taken in a zoo I have not had the opportunity to even be in polar bear country yet.  What an amazing creature that lives most of it’s life on the ice.  Hopefully one day I’ll have the opportunity to see one in the wild.

Many might not realize this but Black Bears eat a fair amount of grass so grassy areas are a good place to look for them.  Like a dog they’ll also lay down in it to cool off.

This black bear was cutting across a swamp in Grand Teton National Park and many people were fighting for position to photograph it.  Knowledge of how animals move and being lucky I was able to position myself away from the crowd and capture a number of good images as he passed by me.  Tags in his ear may mean that he has been captured as a problem bear or he is part of a study.  Photographing bears can be dangerous, seeing where there were multiple attacks last year out west, so be careful.  You should never approach one, always make some noise while in bear country so not to surprise one, if you see one bear look for others especially cubs, never get between a sow and her cubs.

Bear Week here at the blog this week. This is a brown color phase black bear that I photographed in Grand Teton National Park this past summer.