• On Sunday, in the Castile region of Spain, two hikers filmed a fight between a male bear and a female who was with her cub.

  • The two adult bears made an impressive fall and the body of the male was found by the authorities who are trying to find the trace of the injured female and her cub.

  • This kind of attack is a regular phenomenon, the male seeks to kill the cubs so that the female is again in heat.

These are rare images that two amateur videographers were able to capture on the foothills of the Palentina Mountain, located in the north of the province of Palencia in Spain.

Hikers were able to observe two bears in full combat on Sunday at the base of a cliff, before their dizzying fall from several meters in height, the two plantigrades having difficulty getting back on their feet.

Thanks to the authors of the video, Claudio Sordo Velasco and Carmen Ortega Fernández, whom he authorized to broadcast a @jcyl through the official @naturalezacyl channel, we can observe how you watch the fight between a macho oso and a hembra who protegía knew cria 🐻 pic.twitter.com/vBW04kIaFl

— Naturaleza Castilla y León (@naturalezacyl) June 7, 2022


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The male was found dead by authorities in the Castile and Leon region who shared these images.

With the collaboration of the Gardia Civile and the field staff of the Fundación Oso Pardo, the agents found his 217 kg remains in the field and brought him to a specialized center to carry out an autopsy.

The female, seriously injured, took refuge in a cavity which was put under surveillance.

As well as his cub, who could be seen, but whose trace was lost when he too had taken refuge in an area difficult to access.

The Spanish authorities are looking for him in order to capture him and "ensure his survival in the Council's specialized facilities until he reaches the weight necessary to fend for himself", says a press release from the government of the city. Castile region.

A regular phenomenon

This kind of attack by a male bear on a female is not uncommon.

"It is common for mothers to defend their young against attacks by males who seek to bring them back into heat", explains the authorities on the social network Twitter.

In these cases, the bear seeks to kill the cubs.

Two to three days later, the female is in heat again and breeding can take place again.

In 2019, the same phenomenon took place on the Pyrenees chain.

Sorita's two cubs had not given any sign of life, while their mother was seen shortly afterwards with a male bear.

The female attacked in Spain had been located a few weeks ago accompanied by her cubs, had already lost one during a similar attack.

In this corner of Spain, on the Cantabrian mountain range, nearly 330 brown bears are present, compared to 70 on the Pyrenees massif, on either side of the Franco-Spanish border.

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