Bears are brutal in all kinds of ways.
We’ve seen videos of them mauling wild boar and tossing large moose around, but to me, nothing is more barbaric than some male’s behavior toward a female (sow) and her cubs.
Infanticide is an unfortunate reality in the bear population.
Typically, it occurs when a male comes across a female with cubs that he did not father. According to InLightOfNature, there are three commonly sited reasons why a bear would kill the cubs: To reduce the population of bears he didn’t father and allow the mother to return to estrus so he can mate with her, an easy source of food, and to reduce competition for limited resources.
Admittedly, it’s not the easiest topic to discuss and there are certainly a number of videos you can find of this process in action, but the video we have today is actually somewhat of a success story.
According to Meateater, this was taken in Spain and shows a mother brown bear and her cubs traversing a rocky cliffside when they’re approached by an angry male. Immediately the two attack each other and a harrowing fight for life and children goes down with no room to retreat.
At first, it looked like the larger male was winning but the mother more than held her own until a fateful moment occurred.
Whether the she couldn’t push back on the attack any longer or the ground gave way beneath her feet, both bears tumbled off the cliff and began a battering fall to the ground below. Both bears smashed into a number of jagged rocks before coming to rest in a bruised and beaten heap.
But there is an upside to this story, as the mother bear was said to have gotten up and survived the attack.
The male was not so lucky and died from his injuries.
Yet another insane story of epic wildlife battles and another reminder to us all…
Don’t mess with mama bear.
