Watch This Curious Grizzly Bear Rip Into a Parked Car Like Its a Juicy Hamburger

Continue reading for our analysis...

Grizzly bears are amazing creatures, as anyone who has come face-to-face with one can attest. They are a subspecies of brown bears and live in many wooded parts of North America. The video below was shot from a distance (luckily for the person capturing the footage) and shows just how strong and powerful these animals are.

It begins with the grizzly getting curious about a parked car. Most bears get curious about new situations but typically keep their interactions to observing. Unless, of course, there is a reason for them to get more aggressive. Mother bears are known for being very protective of their cubs. Maybe the bear feels threatened. Maybe the grizzly is just familiar enough with cars to know that there can be food inside. Either way, the grizzly starts to use its teeth to pull at the spare tire on the back.

The car rocks back and forth as the grizzly goes to town. The person shooting the video whispers to someone nearby but both stay quiet and the bear does its work. Even though they are far away, the last thing they want is to get the grizzly interested in turning those sharp teeth on them instead of the car.

This short clip ends before the bear gets inside the car. He works hard, focusing on tearing at the cover over the spare tire in the back. We’re not sure if he realized there was only a tire back there (no food) and decided to move on or if he kept working after the camera stopped rolling.

Is This Usual Behavior for a Grizzly Bear?

Grizzly bears and other wildlife are known for getting into things when they think that there is food inside. This happens so often that hikers and backpackers take precautions to keep their items high up in an overhang to prevent animals from getting to them. If they can’t easily get inside, most animals give up and move on. This persistent grizzly bear is a little bit unusual in that it expends effort to get inside the car. We’re guessing that it either saw something it had to have or the feat was easy enough for the strong animal to think it would be worth it in the end.

Standing on its hind legs, this grizzly is taller than the car itself. It is not uncommon for a grizzly bear to get up to 7 feet tall. Some can even reach 10 feet! They also have very powerful bites. The bite force of a grizzly bear is up to 975 psi. No wonder this bear was able to tear into the spare tire cover. They also have a very developed sense of smell. This helps them sniff out food, even inside packs, covered containers, and possibly even a parked car.

How Large Are Grizzly Bears?

Grizzly bears are massive beasts in the wild that have earned a spot among some of the largest land mammals on Earth. Male grizzlies can weigh on average between 600 and 1,200 pounds, compared to females that weigh from 400 to 700 pounds. On all fours, the grizzly stands from 3.3 to 4 feet tall but can tower at a range of 5 to 9 feet when standing on its hind legs.

The only other bear species that surpass the grizzly bear in size are the Kodiak bear and polar bear. Each can stand as high as 10 feet tall. Kodiaks can weigh from 800 to 1,500 pounds, while polar bears exceed that with an average weight range between 900 and 1,600 pounds.