Oh to be a bear frolicking and rolling about in the fresh snow of Yellowstone National Park.
This time of the year, the famous national park is almost guaranteed to be covered up in snow. The animals that call the area home must be equipped to handle the harshest of conditions. Bison typically don’t have an issue with the cold weather, and as I’ve covered time and time again, are actually built to handle freezing conditions.
As for bears, they don’t necessarily mind the cold. But instead of toughing out the winter weather, they opt to skip it. Bears enter into a state of torpor, which can be defined as “extreme inactivity.” If you were wondering how long bears hibernate for, that actually depends on the climate of the region they call home. For bears in more colder, northern climates, their hibernation period might last up to seven months, while bears that live in warmer, southern climates may only hibernate for two to five months.
These animals have the ability to lower their nutritional needs, and though they sleep for a lot of their hibernation, bears are really just going through a period where they don’t intake any food or water, thus not needing to excrete any… you know. So in conclusion, bears don’t have to deal with sh*t – in both the literal and figurative sense – for an extended period of time.
However, bears do have a number of things they like to take care of before they head into their dens (which snow can often help insulate) for their long winter nap. They typically consume an incredible amount of calories to “fatten up” for the hibernation period, and according to this bear, they also like to soak up one last bit of fun before they transition into lazy, hibernation mode.
As you’ll see in the clip below, this Yellowstone bear found some fresh, untouched snow and decided to it would be the perfect place to set up shop to make some snow angels. In reality, this bear was probably cleaning itself before it headed to its den, but it certainly did appear to be making some snow bears – even if they were unintentional.
This video from January of 2021 showed that bears can sometimes wait a ways into winter before hibernation. It’s also possible that this bear exited its hibernation set up, which is unusual, but not uncommon:
“Winter is the time of year in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming when bears hibernate, although, it’s possible to see one any time of year. During hibernation, a bear doesn’t eat, urinate or defecate and can lose up to a third of its body weight in a few months without losing much muscle or bone density.”
Love that the crow had to get in on the shot too.
Social media users enjoyed the rare glimpse of the bear letting loose (and/or cleaning itself) in the snow, and left these replies that both pointed out how cute-yet-dangerous bears in the wild can be:
“It’s videos like this that make me forget that fluffy guy could tear off my face.”
“This snow loving bear is my kindred spirit.”
“He looks like he’s trying to cover himself. I hope he made it to his den.”
“They look so cute! I wish they weren’t so dangerous.”
“This is me trying to get out of bed in the morning.”
