Most people who have seen a grizzly, usually see them eating in a field or on the side of a road. And for this reason most of us have this unrealistic image of a grizzly bear as to what it does when not eating. Even those studying grizzlies or guiding in area where grizzlies are frequently spotted, don’t know everything about a grizzly. They know lots, more than most of us, but only when we start putting our collective knowledge together we start getting an understanding who they are. Even then, these apex predators are full of surprises.
M136, shown in the image, has been going after grizzly female’s cubs for the last few years, this year he had success. Killing one of the two and half year-old cubs and them consuming it over two days. A colleague could not see but could hear from his truck the bones of the cubs being crushed as it was being eaten. M136 was not planning to leave behind much, even going after a Common Raven, who had grabbed a piece of meat.
M136 has gone after other cubs successfully and including killing and eating a sub-adult grizzly few years back. What remained of the sub-adult grizzly was found including the GPS collar he was wearing and M136 was not far from the scene. Some of the reasons for this behaviour by grizzlies and other species are to reduce competition for mating and for food.
The day I got this picture of “split-lip”, his street name. An injury he got when he was a young adult during a fight with another grizzly. I was in the middle of a parking lot and scanning way up with my camera for Mountain Goats. When I heard some sounds across the parking lot in the grass, it was M136 eating dandelions. He took a quick look at me and continued with his dinner. Perfect, he knew I was in the area and was not concerned with me. My goal became not to have him be concerned about me and forget about looking for goats. I got a few images of him, including this one, with him leaving behind his business card as he crossed the parking lot to consume more dandelions.
