I am honored to have won the beginner Animal Behavior photo contest! This photo was taken in Katmai National Park in Alaska in early summer when sows with their cubs are likely to be in the area. However, during my visit, only one sow was present, and she only had one cub. But it was a COY (cub of the year), and one was all we needed.
Bears in Katmai are relatively used to and tolerant of human observers, so we settled in to watch this pair. We began to refer to this COY as a ‘he’ because of his antics, and we later verified that he was indeed a HE by his urination. Lacking siblings, he had no safe playmate with whom to practice his necessary life skills like wrestling. His mother patiently filled that role for him, allowing him to maul her and then gently knocking him down when she had had enough. He would bounce back up and jump on her head again as she either rested in the grass or had her head down to eat.
Eventually, however, she had to get to the serious business of grazing on the sedges so she could continue to nourish herself and produce milk for her rambunctious cub. When he got the message that playtime with her was over, he was quite proficient at entertaining himself. Anything he could find in his environment was investigated and turned into a toy. He chewed on sticks he found, tugged at a rope that washed in from the ocean, played soccer with a rock, and used a stump as both a table and a drum. Eventually, he managed to pull up this chunk of grass and toss it down the beach. He chased it and chewed on it until it dissolved, which did not take long.
Such an energetic and entertaining cub provided immense joy for me. Capturing this image was one of the highlights of my visit, preserving the day for years to come.