Wyoming’s Grizzly 399 is the most famous bear on the planet and has the world on edge each spring wondering if and when she’ll emerge from hibernation — and she’s done it again.
Grizzly 399 was spotted late Sunday with her huge cub in tow.
Longtime Wyoming wildlife photographers Tom Mangelsen and Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven told Cowboy State Daily that there had been reports of 399 and her cub Spirit being spotted “briefly” late Sunday.
Early Monday, Vangoidtsenhoven said the sighting had been confirmed.
“One person saw her last night. It’s confirmed,” he said. “So far this morning no new sightings, but I just found tracks of her and Spirit.”
Mangelsen and Vangoidtsenhoven have documented 399 and her various cubs frequently over the years.
And Mangelsen helped take her to new levels of fame earlier this year. His work was used extensively for the documentary film “399: Queen of the Tetons”.
At age 28, 399 is of an advanced age for a grizzly as members of her species rarely make it into their 30s. And she’s also one of the oldest mama bears on record.
However, experts have said they have little doubt that she’ll live at least long enough to raise Spirit to age 2, sometime next year when the cub will be old enough to strike out on his own.
Earlier Than Last Year
The first grizzlies started popping out in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks early last month – as usual, it was large males who emerged before any of the others.
Grizzly 399 is known to take her time and generally doesn’t appear until April. Last year, some started to worry as April dragged on into May and she still hadn’t appeared.
But then she emerged May 16, 2023, with her new cub.
The cub, which was eventually named Spirit, grew quickly and became gigantic. Many attributed his size to the fact that he didn’t have any littermates to compete with for his mother’s milk.
399’s last litter, born in 2020, was an almost unprecedented set of quadruplets.
All of those cubs survived to independence. However, one of them, a male, was later killed by wildlife agents in July 2022 for displaying “dangerous behavior” in human-settled areas.
Many people in 399’s worldwide fanbase were angered by the cub’s killing, which they thought was unnecessary.
Grizzly 399 gained fame and huge social media followings through her habit of taking her cubs to highly visible areas near roadsides in Grand Teton National Park.
Mangelsen in particular helped the public fall in love with her through his photos and video footage of 399 and her cubs.
Mark Heinz can be reached at: Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com
