Professional film crews and photographers spend weeks out in the field trying to catch rare animal interactions on camera, but recently a Canadian woman stumbled upon one such event on the side of a highway.
Cari McGillivray was traveling on the Stewart Cassiar Highway in British Columbia earlier last week when she came across two huge grizzly bears, poised for battle.
The giant bears could be heard making deep, threatening grunting noises towards one another before rearing up aggressively on their hind legs.
The beasts continued to roar and began pushing one another in an attempt to determine dominance.
Cari continued filming the incredible encounter but her panic was clear when the animals turned and started to run in her direction. Even though she appeared to be recording the footage from her car, either of these bears could have easily taken their excess aggression out on her vehicle.
According to Britannica, grizzlies can run as fast as 48 km per hour (30 mph) and they have been known to attack humans without evident provocation. Thankfully, however, the bears appeared to veer off to the other side of the road before reaching Cari.
Though there wasn’t a clear winner in the fight, the animals certainly put on a good show – evident in the fact they even caught the attention of a curious wolf who stopped further down the road to check out the action.
Sharing the footage on Facebook, the Canadian woman wrote:
Don’t normally post on here but thought I’d share this incredibly rare and amazing moment with all you guys of these grizzlies fighting! Keep a sharp eye out for the little wolf that is observing them in the distance
The exact reason why the bears were fighting is still unclear but Bear Smart explains grizzlies are more likely than black bears to defend themselves when threatened. Bear society is formed on a dominance hierarchy based on age, size and temperament and they establish and maintain their social position by acting aggressively.
Large adult grizzlies can stand at 2.5 metres (eight feet) tall and weigh around 410kg (900 pounds) according to Britannica, so they certainly are not to be messed with!
SOURCE: UNILAD