Wild Grizzly Bears Find Random Stick In Field -- And Flip Out

[catbyte]

This is pure joy 😂

By Sarah V Schweig

Living on the vast and beautiful tundra in northern Canada is all fine and good — until you have an itch to scratch. And wild grizzly bears know this predicament all too well.

Because of the tundra's particular habitat, trees are few and far between, and without tree trunks, the bears can't partake in that very satisfying bear pastime of rubbing up against rough tree bark for back scratches.



So when a couple of grizzlies, likely a mother and her nearly full-grown cub, found a random metal stick poking up out of the ground, they took full advantage.

Luckily, a wildlife photographer from Switzerland, Marcel Gross, happened to be traveling through the Yukon Territory during late summer when he spotted the bears and managed to capture their moment of sheer joy.

snip





The bears clearly abandoned themselves to the simple pleasure of scratching their backs on the stick. In total, Gross watched the pair's antics for about two hours before the bears continued walked off into the distance.









snip

"This has probably been the best and most memorable moment of my whole epic 403-day trip," Gross said.

https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/grizzly-bears-find-perfect-backscratcher-rejoice

[Solly Mack]

1. The 4th photo is an instant classic. Wonderful shot. Great capture.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

2. It looks like Bear-kabob.

[Solly Mack]

3. Nah. Looks like a Grizzly pole dancer. :)

[drmeow]

11. Exactly! Eom

[JudyM]

8. Definitely! Outstanding.

[Solly Mack]

10. I love the look of bliss on the bear's face.

[Dem2theMax]

4. Those bears would be so embarrassed if they knew this was on the internet!

These photos are great. The photographer must have had the best time watching them.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Ooooohhhh, that must feel sooooo good!

You just know it does. When I scratch my dog's back she contorts herself into the strangest positions.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

6. See more pix from this great amateur photographer.....

He's not a NatGeo staff photographer, but certainly is one of their excellent amateurs that publish on NatGeo YourShot.

The page below shows some beautiful shots taken in Canada and America, and other spots around the world in his travels.

He seems to prefer a Sony SLT-A77V camera.

Marcel Gross
Bern, Switzerland

See: https://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/332670/

......

[democratisphere]

7. When you've got an itch, you gotta scratch it.

I have seen humans perform similar acts on the edge of door frames.

[csziggy]

9. A story I was told ages ago about telegraph poles

Back when the first telegraphs lines were run across the prairies, buffalo loved to rub up against them to satisfy their itches. To discourage this, somebody came up with the bright idea of putting spikes in the poles to discourage the buffalo. Unfortunately, those spikes were even better to scratch on and the buffalo loved them!

Then there are the mammoth rubbing rocks. Rocks that still bear the marks from mammoths rubbing up against them: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ice-Age-clues-near-Bodega-Scientist-thinks-2466058.php