Big Timing Grizzly Shows Off His Cowboy Walk While Leaving Scent Marks

The biggest cowboy strut of all time is seen in the great state of Alaska! Only, it’s not done by a real cowboy but rather by an enormous grizzly bear. Let’s see what this is all about below.

Grizzly Bear Sighting in Alaska

This next YouTube video posted at the bottom of this blog post takes us to Alaska. Within Alaska, we are at the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, according to this Instagram poster. This video was uploaded by the Instagram page Just A Little Light Photo. He shares his description of the video below.

“This behavior, sometimes called “cowboy walking”, is one of many ways bears communicate with each other. In this particular situation, the male bear, known as Chops, is leaving scent markings for other bears to smell by urinating, stomping the ground, and twisting his paws into the ground to embed the urine. Off camera to the left was another male bear, and more importantly, a female bear in estrus. Chops was letting the other male bear know that he wanted to spend some time with the female. Chops ultimately convinced the other bear to back off, and Chops may be a dad next year!” 

A Grizzly Bears Cowboy Walk

At the start of this video, we see a massive grizzly bear roaming through this sanctuary. We never really appreciate a grizzly’s size until we see it on video while walking around or see it in person. 

This bear is so big that we see him walking side to side. As the poster described at the beginning, this is sometimes called a “cowboy walk.” And it’s because they comically look like those cowboys in those old movies who would have a bit of a funny walk with a tall piece of grass hanging out of their mouths. This walk can also be referred to as “sumo strutting” or even the “bear dance.” 

According to Scientific American, “As they walk, the bears vigorously twist their feet into the ground. Sometimes, they step into footprints left behind by other bears after giving the prints a good sniff.”

What Eats a Grizzly Bear?

It’s difficult to think of any predator that could hunt and kill a grizzly bear. However, we think you will be surprised to learn that the grizzly bear has two natural predators: humans and cougars. 

Other animals that will eat a variety of bears are tigers, wolves, cougars, bobcats, and coyotes. These are typically in the case of young bear cubs; however, if the opportunity arrises and one of these animals can take a bear down, they will. But, it is highly unlikely they would be able to do so successfully as bears have enormous strength. 

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