Bear takes 400 selfies after finding wildlife trail cameras: 'So photogenic'

Animals roaming around in nature parks is normal and motion-capture cameras filming them is something we have all seen. But when the cameras film a bear investigating the equipment- that’s what the internet is finding fascinating. The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountains (OSMP) has about nine motion detective cameras in its 46,000-acre land area. It is placed mostly in high-traffic areas like road underpasses and fence lines, according to MyModernMet. On November 24, 2022, a curious bear decided to take some time to investigate one of the cameras while it was preparing for hibernation. The camera ended up capturing some super cute selfies of the bear.

OSMP posted some pictures from their collection of 400 bear pictures on Instagram. They said, “We kept 24 pictures that made us laugh the most and deleted the others.” In January 2023, the photos were re-posted online on Twitter. OSMP captioned the pictures, “Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across #Boulder open space. Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies.” Many Twitter users were worried about the usage of the word “recently” as the bears are in hibernation during January. OSMP clarified, “This came from last year. It was originally posted on our Instagram account.”

After the concerns were dealt with, Twitter users continued to share the bear pictures online. It has about 19.8 million views and more than 52,000 likes. Many on the platform found the bear pictures adorable. @DJLAMOON commented, “So photogenic.” @CUBuffaloBill commented, Ha! Ha! Ha! I've always said digital devices and the Internet have ruined us all! That is too funny! Good looking Bear." @zeynepkarakapta commented, "This is the best thing I have seen all day." @TsepangMolisana commented, "They said: 'fresh and photos with the bomb lighting.'" @oakgiraffes commented, "He just thinks he's soooo handsome, and the camera should capture his beauty. So many people are camera-shy. Maybe the bear is trying to teach us all to smile more and let our pictures be taken."

Talking about bears, last year, while the bears of Katmai National Park and Reserve were eating extra to prepare for hibernation, people around the world were voting for the fattest bear as part of Fattest Bear Week. Over the summer, each bear consumes at least 500 lbs of salmon from the park's Brooks River on the 8 million acre reserve in Alaska. Through a series of webcams, people can watch these bears as they accumulate a "preponderance of pudge," according to BBC.

The annual contest is "a way to celebrate the resilience, adaptability and strength of Katmai's brown bears," Katmai previously said on its website. The website pointed out that "Katmai’s brown bears are at their fattest in late summer and early fall. It is the end-product of their summer-long effort to satisfy their profound hunger and prepare for winter hibernation. During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and can lose one-third of their body weight. Their winter survival depends on accumulating ample fat reserves before entering the den."

The voting happened from October 5 to 11, 2022 and the winner was Bear 747, who won the most votes, beating challenger 901. Bear 747 is said to be one of the biggest brown bears on Earth, possibly weighing as much as 1,400 pounds (635 kg), according to the bear's profile on Explore.org. It added that "747 typically keeps its status by sheer size alone. He shows that skill and size influence success in the bear world."