Martinselkonen Nature Reserve in Finland: Giant brown bear teaches her young cub how to climb a thin tree

*This image is copyright of its original author

 This is how you do it: A mother bear teaches her cubs to climb a tree in Martinselkonen Nature Reserve, located close to the Russian border in Finland
The bravest even climbed all the way to the top, and perched on one of the branches while its siblings stayed firmly on the ground with Mama Bear.


The family bonding time was captured by Lithuanian photographers Dalia Kvedaraite, 35, and Giedrius Stakauskas, 38, on a visit to the Martinselkonen Nature Reserve, located close to the Russian border.
‘A female bear arrived at this spot with her cubs when several powerful male bears had moved away from the area,’ explains Ms Kvedaraite.
‘There was plenty of action from the fluffy bear cubs as they were playing and digging up vegetation all evening.
‘Their mum was teaching them how to climb and they all followed her lead as they scurried up the tree one by one.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Easy as one, two, three: One by one the young brown bear cubs climb up the pine tree trunk as they practice what they mother preached
‘All the cubs were so cute and funny, but the smallest one was particularly playful and so adorable.’ Only a few feet away from the bears, the photographers were able to watch them play together for hours.
Dalia says: ‘Unfortunately, later that evening, this little family of bears was frightened by a huge and very aggressive male bear. ‘This forced not only the cubs but even the female to climb up to the top of the 33ft tree.
‘They certainly put their climbing skills to good use, and they reached the top in a mere five to ten seconds.’

2015 Robert O'Toole | Juvenile brown bear playing in a field of fireweed

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Coastal Brown Bear and Triplets

A brown bear keeps a watchful eye on me as if feeds on a freshly caught sockeye salmon

Coastal brown bear (Ursus arctos), near the bridge, Brooks Camp, Katmai National Park, Alaska

I dug into my photo archives for this blog post- I took this photo in 2005 on a trip to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.  We found these cubs swimming in a deep pool within the Russian River, which is a famous tributary of the Kenai River popular with the fly-fishing community for its large runs of salmon and rainbow trout which feed on their eggs.  Anxious fisherman could only stand by and watch as these cubs occupied a pool which held a large number of silver salmon.  While the bared teeth look ominous, these cubs were merely playing.

Katmai bear posing at the mouth of the river

British photographer Jules Cox snapped the brown bears chasing each other up tall pine trees