Nature can be a scary place.
But every so often, something heartfelt and innocent happens with wild animals that makes the great outdoors a little less intimidating. With that being said, I’m not encouraging people to let their guard down around bears. I’m instead just sharing this video and making it clear that interactions with any wildlife should be from a safe distance.
In this case, a photographer in Alaska was in the perfect position to shoot a video of a mother bear and her two cubs traversing the lush landscape. From the looks of the video, it actually looks like they might have been a little too close to the bruins passing by. The National Park Service advises those outdoors to stay 100 yards away from bears, and when cubs are involved, you might as well double that just to be safe.
However, it didn’t look like this bear family was going to be too much trouble. The mother bear was keeping things moving right along, only occasionally stopping to check out the green grass. It was actually one of the bear cubs that stole the show after it noticed the people standing nearby.
Whether you want to call it intentional or unintentional, the cub appeared to stand up and wave at the people standing and looking on at the traveling bears. As it looks over in the direction of the humans, the baby bear clumsily stands up on its hind legs and appears to wave hello.
It’s probably one of the most adorable bear videos you’ll ever see, but the caption of the post explains why the wave likely happened:
“Bear cubs are super unstable when they’re learning how to stand up, and so they often flail their arms to stabilize themselves. It was so cute to see this little cub appear to wave while trying to keep herself steady. Eventually she still toppled over.”
