After This Woman Went To Take A Photo Of A Bear, She Realized She’d Made A Big Mistake
It’s a lovely spring day at Yellowstone National Park, and a bunch of people are in the parking area at Roaring Mountain. They’re just grabbing some photos of the hot springs there when there’s a growl. It’s a bear! The visitors back off real quick, heading for their vehicles. But one woman’s left behind — and then the animal suddenly lurches forwards…
Defensive bears
You might believe that the woman had nothing much to worry about. After all, bears don’t want much to do with people. But as they originally developed in areas with no trees, they have an awareness of possible danger when humans come near that can make them defensive. Particularly momma bears — approaching a cub can be bad news.
Foolish behavior
So when the grizzly realized that the woman was nearby, it was probably alarmed. And the woman likely understood that she was making a big mistake. In fact, she was indulging in an error of judgment that left a local official shaking his head and describing her behavior as “absolutely foolish.”
Wild variety
Yellowstone’s renowned for the variety of its animals, as well as for its spouting hot water, of course. The numbers alone are impressive, with upwards of 60 types of mammals, plenty of amphibians, reptiles, and fish in the streams and ponds, plus close to 300 different bird species overhead.
Many mammals
The mammals are perhaps what interest us most: bears are of course part of the mammal family. And Yellowstone actually has the greatest amount of mammals of all the contiguous U.S. states. The area contains an intriguing mix of predators and prey, with the former consisting of not just black and grizzly bears, but also coyotes, lynx, wolves, wolverines, and mountain lions.
