| 1 | Jenny plays in the snow |
As 2020 ended, the question of whether bears love to play in fresh snow as much as people was finally answered. Jenny was (and still is) an orphaned Syrian brown bear cub residing in the Orphaned Wildlife Centre in New York. She’s a lifer bear who will never be released back into the wild, but judging by this video, she’s happy that way.
In December, when a foot of fresh snow fell on New York City, Jenny looked as though she’d drunk a newly invented brand of hypercaffeinated coffee. Like a human, she ran around the yard, forging tunnels through the deep virgin snow. There was no obvious motivation other than pure fun. She was in such an energetic mood that she approached her first pen-mate, a black bear, who was much more chilled out.
When Jenny approached her fellow Syrian brown bear, the two started wrestling for approximately one minute, biting at each other playfully. Then she realised there was more virgin snow to play in, and charged deep into it, before finding a long, dark tunnel that the bear trainers had installed. Jenny vanished for a second, before reappearing on the other side. Then she found a tree and hugged it like a hippy, before doing what else, but making more tunnels through the freshly fallen snow. This snowy January day seemed to be Jenny’s Christmas morning equivalent. No, they’re not allowing humans to move in.
| 2 | Loki the mischief bear |
Loki was a Eurasian brown bear cub born in Leicester zoo in England, and over his first year of life, he enjoyed himself to the maximum. The biggest treats came on his first birthday on December 14th 2012, when Loki received a pile of elephant dung to roll in. His next treat was more understandable, a delicious helping of fruit cake, although that said, its main decoration was dog biscuits, arranged in the shape of a number one.
Loki had the most fun with a large orange ball. He spent the whole day rolling around with it on the frozen earth, raising the ball above his head, and balancing it on the ground like a pro. Assisting Loki in opening the presents was his 8 year old mother Nellie, who was apparently severely jealous and kept stealing things. Everything was put inside old cardboard boxes, including an old tyre which Loki playfully stuck his head through.
Halloween was another time of fun and festivity, as Nellie and Loki were gifted a special jack-o-lantern. As Loki smashed it open, he received an incredible surprise when a flood of yellow scrambled egg leaked out. He was also tempted by a pedalo with strawberry jam hidden in the middle. “He is so playful and an absolute joy to watch in his enclosure” said one employee of Leicester zoo.
As of 2022, Loki still lives, in his new home – the Scottish Deer Centre.
| 3 | Hamburg wrestling match |
Wildpark Schwarze Berge is a wildlife park in Hamburg, Germany which boasts thousands of well-treated animals. There’s bison, elk and wild boars galore, and in 2017, two bears were filmed having a jolly wrestle in a pool, with “Füttern verboten” (no feeding) signs close by.
For 6 minutes, the bears snapped and bit at each other, pushing each other back and forth while only their heads were visible. It was clearly a friendly battle, except for one tense moment 3 minutes in when a bite landed too closely and the first bear pushed the other forward for 3 seconds with a ferocious display of speed. The aggression faded as quickly as it appeared, and for the last 3 minutes, the bears were best friends again.
Just before 6 minutes into the video, the second bear randomly glides back on its hind legs as though moonwalking, while the other bear watches on in bemusement as though thinking “what are you doing, man?”. The video then ends with both bears looking at the camera in unison, realising that nosy humans are watching them.
Meanwhile, the rocks in the background are some of the weirdest ever. They’re covered in complex patterns which resemble dozens of ever changing animals or human faces, like an infinitely concentrated fossil bed, but there’s no evidence that they’re anything but normal rocks. Most likely this was deliberately placed to make the bear sanctuary feel wilder and hijack the bears’ wild brains.
| 4 | Alaskan bear watches the view peacefully |
One classic debate about brown bears is whether they have terrible eyesight or not. Advocates say it’s compensated for by a laser accurate sense of smell, but the truth is that bears have excellent vision, including a membrane called the tapetum lucidum which enhances their night vision. In fact, photographers have taken numerous photos of brown bears sitting on rocks and watching the sunset, with no apparent motivation other than pleasure. Sometimes, they’ll stare at mountains or sweeping vistas for hours, and biologists believe that they derive the same pleasure from amazing views as we do.
This classic 2014 video is one example. A cameraman is sitting in a chair in the Alaskan wilderness near the McNeil River, trying to stay calm as a massive brown bear approaches. It’s clear, however, that this bear is relatively friendly, and about 1 metre away from a tasty human being, it sits down peacefully. It then does nothing other than cast its gaze over a wide running river for 1 minute, with a look of happiness on its face, before standing up and wandering away.
It’s possible that the big brown bear was strategizing for a future fishing session, working out the best rocks to sit on, but unlike dogs, bears are well known to have full colour vision. When scientists trained bears to associate foods with varying shades of blue, such as blue-green or blue-yellow, they always chose the correct colour when food containers were placed in front of them.
| 5 | Alaskan cub rides its mother |
We’re always waiting for the latest milestones in bear advancement, whether it’s the first bear to use tools, the first to deliberately seek out alcohol, or the first to say “I love you” to its owner like that dog did a few years ago. In November 2014, the first bear to discover the game of Buckaroo was found, or the first to be seen anyway.
In Katmai National park, photographer Lisa Sidorsky captured a small brown bear cub hopping on its mother’s back while she fished for salmon. The water was extremely shallow, and the cub was at no risk of being washed away – there was no motivation other than pure fun. The mother playfully shook her offspring off, but the cub refused to be deterred, and hopped back on the bear express all over again, while the mother gradually became annoyed as her salmon meal slipped away. Nevertheless, the bear found getting tossed off its mother almost as fun as the ride.
The cub climbed back onto her back like a person clinging to a horse, although its grip was much less secure. The bear was now hanging on for dear life. At top speed, a bear can reach 35mph, but fortunately, there were plenty of brown, furry handholds for the cub to use.
| 6 | Jim and Jimbo |
Bears aren’t limited to playing with each other, or with trees. If you play your cards right in life, then you too could be playing with a 1000 pound grizzly bear before long. True, it might take 5 years of training and trust-building, but for Jim Kowalczik, playing with grizzlies is a daily reality. Kowalczik is a trainer at the Orphaned Wildlife Centre in New York, the same bear haven where Jenny played in the snow. Jimbo was a 1400 pound Kodiak bear, and thanks to the trusting relationship between the pair, the internet is now flooded with so many videos of man and bear playing that it’s a wonder the youtube satellite hasn’t crashed.
The most popular has 39 million views and shows Jim lying on the ground calmly, while Jimbo hugs him and eventually drools on him lovingly. He probably thought he was giving his trainer a clean. Other videos show Jim playfully dropping snowballs onto Jimbo’s face and grabbing him around the jaws, mimicking a bear’s fighting style in the wild, while Jimbo envelops him in a massive bear hug. One small problem when rough housing with bears is their 5 inch bear claws, but Jimbo was a considerate Kodiak bear. In this 2017 video, Jimbo makes a hasty grab for his master, pinching his skin. Jim lets out a yelp, and Jimbo withdraws his claws instantly, understanding his mistake.
These videos are having a serious effect on society: an epidemic of people wanting their own bears to play with.
| 7 | Bavarian snowy slope action |
In March 2012, definitive evidence arrived that bears love sledging, even if the bears were so heavy that no sledge was required. Photographer Duncan Usher visited a wildlife park in Bavaria one sunny spring day, and watched in amazement for 20 minutes while two fully grown bears slid down a snowy slope on their backs. The two bears were bear grunting with pleasure, and when they hit the ground, they did somersaults, before climbing back up and sliding down all over again.
One was an adult male with lighter hair, while the other was an adult female with darker hair. Visitors gathered around in amazement, and Duncan was laughing so hard that he could barely take photos. At one point, the male bear grabbed his back paws with his front paws to increase his speed. The duo then finished off by rolling around in the snow and play fighting.
It was theorised that the early spring sun had stimulated a hibernation awakening instinct, telling the bears that it was finally time for some fun. Once playtime was over, the bears walked off in opposite directions as though nothing had happened. According to the photographer: “in 25 years of animal photography I have never experienced brown bears playing so enthusiastically“.
| 8 | Russian subadults paddle in lake |
The island of Sakhalin lies directly north of Japan and is the largest in all of Russia. The island is a haven of untouched wildlife, and as drone operator Sergey Lyubachenko proved, this once included two incredibly playful brown bears. These were subadults approximately 1 year old, and all signs suggested that they’d left their mother or been abandoned, but were sticking with each other’s company to stay safe. And they were certainly enjoying it, as in an epic vista thought to be the realm of only CGI wizardry, the two bears were filmed paddling and play-wrestling each other. The setting was a clear, sparkling lake, with a setting sun in the distance that cast everything in an orange glow.
Beforehand, the bears had walked towards the lake and sniffed around for washed up fish, before snacking on a fresh fish they’d kept in storage. This water paddle fight was clearly their post-dinner celebration. The 1 minute video was uploaded on July 30th 2020, although it was filmed earlier, as Lyubacnehko had previously considered the quality to be poor. He needn’t have worried. There’s clearly no aggression in the young bears as they playfight in the water.
That said, it didn’t end so well for the drone. At one point, one bear left the lake and started pawing through the sandy shore like he was making a blanket, but when Lyubachenko flew his drone forward to investigate, a lightning fast paw swiped it down.
| 9 | Alaskan bears hug each other |
If you’re a fan of bears and hugging people is your perfect idea of fun, then this video is right up your valley. Released by Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, it shows two brown bear subadults lying on a beach and cuddling each other. That’s all the video shows, but the bears clearly love it.
One starts by staring into the distance and apparently thinking hard, while the second bear cuddles her from behind. Then the front bear lies down and buries her head in her paws, while the other bear cuddles her even harder. One guess is that the front bear was wondering why their mother hadn’t returned to them, before bursting into tears, and being comforted by her caring sibling. Or maybe, we humans have no clue what goes on in the bear world.
Regardless, Lake Clark has around 217 brown bears in an area of just 54 miles. Its shores are swimming with salmon, and consequently, the bears are more tolerant of each other compared to inland grizzly country where food is scarce. There’s less competition, and while the Lake Clark grizzlies will commonly snap and bite, there’s an established social hierarchy whereby proper communication can prevent fatal brawls. Maybe these caring grizzlies were an example. Maybe this social communication is spurring them to evolve into a new form of caring bear.
| 10 | Bears play wrestle for 10 minutes |
Our final playful bears were sighted in Katmai National Park in Alaska, the former stomping ground of world famous grizzly man Timothy Treadwell. These bears were much friendlier than the ones that ate Treadwell in 2003, as the video shows two sub-adult bears wrestling for 5 minutes by a wooden fishing platform stretching out onto a lake. One bear is dark brown, while the other is lighter. It’s obvious that the bears aren’t trying to assassinate each other – if they were, it would have to be the most half-hearted attempt in history. The bears pull all the tricks from the bag in their make believe duel, including standing on hind legs, snapping at each other’s necks, bear hugging each other to the ground, and jumping on each other’s backs.
Halfway through, the lighter grizzly seems to decide that playtime is over, until the overeager dark bear pesters him into half-heartedly re-entering the fray. At times, the fighting suddenly accelerates, cranking up a gear, but the playing session never transforms into a fully fledged grizzly duel.
The fight apparently took place in a human-bear paradise, as 1 minute in, a float plane is visible in the background landing on a lake, surrounded by the bobbing heads of 3 adult grizzlies. 2 minutes later, two of those grizzlies are now on land, on a mini-peninsula in the background near a parked fishing boat.
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