GTNP 137 is a Black Bear, Ursus americanus, living in the heavily forested part of the vast central area of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) that lies between Jenny Lake to the west, and the Bridger-Teton National Forest to the East.  GTNP 137 is the tag this sow Black Bear wears on its right ear.  The tag on the left ear ends in 38, but I cannot get a clear view of any other letters/numbers, if there are any.

With this sow are two healthy yearling cubs.  Black Bear cubs only need to stay in the general vicinity of their mother, since when threatened they exhibit the most extraordinary defensive climbing skills.  Black Bear cubs seem to literally fly up trees, stopping at ~15 feet to evaluate danger before climbing higher or descending.  This behavior is quite distinct from that of Grizzly Bear cubs, which tumble along close behind their mother as they travel across relatively open meadows and plains.

Park biologists estimate that there are between 100 and 150 Black Bear in GTNP.  Since Black Bears favor densely forested areas pretty much exclusively, it is uncommon to see these animals whilst traveling along the Jackson Hole Highway, but we were at the right place at the right time (near Deadman’s Bar Road).  We work hard at getting lucky.

Seeing Black Bear, or just about any animal for that matter, takes a fair bit of determination.  Ask rangers for advice about where animals have recently been seen – and by that I mean, ask *all* the rangers you run into, since information about animal sightings tends to move slowly within the ranger network.  The folks that work at the main entrances tend to be a little out of the loop.  People you find at one animal sighting tend to be amongst the best sources of information – just ask what they’ve seen, where, when, etc – folks are generally very enthusiastic about sharing information.  Even if the information is a few hours old, it can be very valuable, since certain species, e.g., Bear and Moose, tend to hang around a particular site for several hours or even days.

Images in this entry were recorded between 08:00 and 09:00 on June 4, 2011, using the Nikon D3s, and the AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED at mostly 400mm.  Exposures were at f5.6 and 1/800s, ISO 2500.  Image processing was accomplished using Photoshop CS5 with Nik and PhotoKit Sharpener plugins.

Copyright 2011 Peter F. Flynn. No usage permitted without prior written consent.  All rights reserved.