At roughly 2.5 years old, a female grizzly called Miracle is at the age where most bears are just striking out on their own.
After losing both of her siblings to a male grizzly’s attack last spring and then splitting from her mother at an unusually tender age, Miracle has been on her own for nearly a year.
She was spotted Sunday in Grand Teton National Park, passing through the same spot in the Colter Bay area where she’d been seen almost a year to day prior.
It’s one of a few appearances that Miracle has made so far this spring, and she appears to be in good health, wildlife photographer Marcela Herdova told Cowboy State Daily.
“She survived the winter all on her own which is really great,” Herdova said.
Hanging out near Colter Bay Village might have been what initially brought trouble to Miracle, her siblings and their famous mother, Grizzly 1063.
But on Sunday, Miracle didn’t seem to have in any interest in hanging out around Colter Bay; she was apparently using it as a shortcut between wooded areas, Herdova said.
2025 Controversy
Last spring, park officials hazed Grizzly 1063 and her three yearling cubs, trying to get them away from the settled Colter Bay area.
In mid-May, two of the three cubs were killed and partly cannibalized by a male bear, the National Park Service (NPS) reported.
Some claimed that the hazing separated 1063 and her cubs, making the cubs more vulnerable and contributing to their deaths.
The NPS reported there was no evidence that the hazing had separated the bears prior to the cubs’ deaths.
The last yearling initially went missing but was spotted back with Grizzly 1063 a few days later. That surviving yearling came to be called Miracle by admirers.
After a brief reunion, Miracle and Grizzly 1063 split again, apparently for good.
Miracle returned to the Colter Bay area, and in July she was trapped by wildlife officers and released in a remote area.
Bear experts at the time gave her a reasonably good chance of surviving the winter. It’s unusual for grizzlies to separate from their mothers as yearlings – that usually doesn’t happen until the cubs are at least 2-years-old.
But it isn’t unheard of for grizzly yearlings to make it on their own, biologists noted.
Coming Full Circle
With Miracle looking robust and full of energy this spring, odds are that she’s learned what she needs to know to continue making it on her own, Herdova said.
And Miracle apparently knows better than to hang out in settled areas, she added.
Herdova caught a brief video clip of Miracle moving through the Coulter Bay area at a brisk pace, apparently showing no interest in stopping to check things out.
As for why Miracle and Grizzly 1063 separated last year, Herdova speculated that it might have been because a male bear was trying to mate with 1063.
So, 1063 might have driven Miracle off partly to pursue a new mating opportunity and partly to keep the yearling safe, she said.
Male grizzlies will sometimes kill cubs in hopes of mating with the mother bear.
And that scenario might add up, because this Spring Grizzly 1063 has a litter of the COYs (cubs of the year), Herdova said.
Following Patterns
Grizzly researcher Lana Ciarniello of British Columbia, Canada, told Cowboy State Daily told Cowboy State Daily that it’s difficult to surmise exactly what happened with Miracle.
There are some instances of mother grizzlies splitting from yearlings, in order to mate again, she said.
One female grizzly she’s observed in Canada follows that pattern of running younger cubs off, then mating, Ciarniello said.
Most cubs split from the mothers between age 2 and 3, she added.
And in some rare instances, cubs might stay with their mothers until age 5, she added.
As for Miracle high-tailing it along the same route that she was seen almost exactly a year earlier, that tracks with typical bear behavior, she said.
Bears establish regular “travel corridors” so it might make sense for quick dash through Colter Bay to become part of Miracle’s travel route, Ciarniello said.
“They don’t just walk randomly through the landscape,” she said.
Ciarniello noted that female grizzlies usually have smaller ranges and more predictable routes than males.
“Males need to encompass much larger ranges, looking for multiple females to mate with,” she said.
“And his route is going to be less predictable, because it’s determined by finding a female in heat,” she added.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
