This sow is bear 815, sometimes referred to as The Obsidian Sow, or Mini Mom, with the three cubs she had in 2019. Although life would not be easy for these cubs, this footage shows them playing their carefree games.
While Mini Mom spends her time calmly grazing in the wide open fields of the park, her three cubs compete to see who can wrestle the other two to the ground and prove themselves the strongest.
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Like many other animals, games like these will help these young cubs develop their social skills, hunting abilities, and vigorous exercise will help them to build up their fitness levels, getting them ready to survive life without their mom.
Professional Wrestlers
Once they reach the size of Mini Mom, these bears will be enormous apex predators, one of the biggest carnivore species in the park, but right now they are tiny and cute as they roll around in the grass.
Their game consists of wrestling, and they compete at it fiercely, climbing over one another in an attempt to be victorious. None of them seems to be any stronger than the other, and more often than not, there is no conclusive winner.
These little cubs don’t let silly problems like winning get in the way of the game, as the pleasure is in the playing. If one gets knocked down, it’s up again and chasing its siblings before they’ve had a chance to get very far.
Foraging And Fighting
While the cubs cavort around her, Mini Mom continues stoically grazing on the grassy fields, focused too much on the grass to engage with their game.
As omnivores, bears need more than just meat to survive, and grass makes up an important part of their daily diet due to its easy availability, especially when emerging from hibernation.
If other nutritious plants are available, bears will eat these instead, even digging for roots, but grass takes no real effort to eat, meaning Mini Mom can keep an eye on her cubs.
A Patient Climbing Frame
Mini Mom’s size means that even if she’s not actively engaging in the game, she can still play a role in it. Her cubs are barely larger than her legs, which means they can use her as a mountain to climb and jump from.
If she had an air of being incredibly patient while she and her little family meandered, then she seems extra so now, with her cubs hanging off her frame while she takes a moment to rest.
Cue the super spy music as one of them clings to her side when she gets back up, hugging in close like someone scaling a wall.
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Joining In With The Game
Although she spends most of her time leaving the cubs to their own devices, Mini Mom does also roll around on the ground with them, taking an active part in their games.
It’s lovely to see, but a little bittersweet. One of these cubs reportedly lost its life to an adult male grizzly not long after this footage was taken, while another didn’t go far enough to establish its own territory, and was killed by one of Mini Mom’s mates before it reached four years old.
Moments like these between bear siblings are cute, and amazing to watch, but nature does not operate according to human moral standards, and life for these animals can be cruel.