A supermom grizzly bear has given birth to her 17th child after becoming famous for allowing people to photograph her cubs by the highway.
She lives in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park and is still having cubs at the age of 24.
Grizzlies in the wild only survive for 26 years, but that didn’t stop this extraordinary mom. She gave birth to four cubs in her litter.
Even taking the grizzly’s age into account, four cubs in a single litter is uncommon for a grizzly bear.
Grizzly 399 is her name, and she became renowned for wandering with her family along rural roadsides, causing the creation of social media pages in her honor.
The’super-mom’ allegedly learnt to avoid men known to harm baby bear pups by using crowded routes.
Grizzly 399, who is now known as the most successful documented grizzly mother in history, definitely benefited from this strategy.
Kate and Adam Rice created these fantastic photos. They went like follows, according to Adam: “We put our heart and soul into every shoot.”
“At her senior age, we weren’t sure she’d have cubs again, let alone four, which is quite unusual.”
“We were taken aback when we learned she produced four cubs; it appeared to be her way of proving us wrong.”
Kate is a park photographer who is completely captivated with the bears.
“She often grazes in meadows beside the road, providing a unique opportunity for people to see a wild bear in action.”
“In national parks, female bears generally live along the road, relying on humans for protection from male grizzlies who would damage their young.”
In 2011, Grizzly 399 made news for the first time when she and her five-year-old daughter started raising cubs in the same area.
This is regarded to be a one-of-a-kind behavior, as the daughter successfully raised one of 399’s cubs on her own.
