Photos of the world’s most famous grizzly bear emerging from hibernation with a new cub show the bear, Grizzly 399, breaking a record as the oldest known wild grizzly bear to give birth, at the age of 27.
Also known as “Queen of the Tetons,” the legendary Grizzly 399 was born in 1996 and is one of an estimated 730 grizzlies living in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Estimated to weigh 350 pounds and standing at 7 feet tall on her hind legs, Grizzly 399 lives in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and has been followed by photographers and wildlife tourists for years. She even has her own social media pages.
In the afternoon of May 16, 399 emerged from hibernation with an unexpected companion.
Belgian-born photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven, 48, told The Epoch Times, "It was getting to mid-May and people were like, ‘Did she even make it through the winter?’ because she’s old. Then, all of a sudden, here she was at her regular spot ... Pilgrim Creek in the National Park. ... we'd been waiting, waiting, waiting, and finally here she was with one cub.
“Both of them looked perfectly happy and healthy.”
According to Vangoidtsenhoven, when a grizzly bear comes out of hibernation with multiple cubs, she could look pretty skinny as the cubs tend to feed throughout the winter and the milk production eats into their body fat.
However, in the case of Grizzly 399, since she had only one cub, both she and her cub had “a perfectly good size.”
Luckily, Vangoidtsenhoven, who lives near Albuquerque in New Mexico, was in the right place at the right time when 399 emerged.
“She came out in the afternoon and she was out for about two hours, then went into the forest,” he said. She was then spotted briefly for the next two days but disappeared for a week after that.
Vangoidtsenhoven said the only opportunity he had to snap pictures of Grizzly 399 was on the first day when she came out of hibernation.
The biggest difficulty in getting pictures of a bear with her cubs, according to Vangoidtsenhoven, is “if she’s out in the open, the sagebrush brushes can get pretty high ... the cub is hidden behind all the bushes.”
Using a lens designed for close-ups, with respect for the Grand Teton Wildlife Brigade’s 100-yard minimum distance rule for brown bears and wolves, Vangoidtsenhoven took hundreds of shots of 399 and her cub from which a few incredible stills emerged. The photographer’s favorite is a shot of 399 walking through a meadow with her cub tottering close behind.
The aging bear is believed to have 22 descendants, and Vangoidtsenhoven was able to capture a breathtaking shot of 399 with four cubs among wildflowers in 2020.
Grizzly 399’s frequent appearances over the years owe to a female brown bear tactic to protect their cubs, the photographer explained. During the June-July mating season, the male bears look for female counterparts, and if they encounter a female with cubs, the babies are at risk.
“Grizzly female bears ... who are actively giving milk are not ready to be pregnant yet, so the males typically start to kill the cubs. ...,” Vangoidtsenhoven said. “Over the years, some of the female bears with cubs have figured out that male grizzly bears don’t really like people, they stay in the backcountry. The females’ reaction to that was [to] stay close to the road where the people are.”
Since Grand Teton National Park built a road straight into the prime grizzly habitat, 399 found the perfect spot to keep her cubs safe from ruthless boars. Her visibility has made her world-famous. However, back in 2007, her life was at risk.
Vangoidtsenhoven said: “399 has never shown any aggression toward people, with one exception. She and her cubs at the time were on a carpet close to a lodge in the park, and a jogger, supposedly jogging on a hiking trail, inadvertently got too close without knowing it. Back then, 399 did charge and kind of give a warning.”
Later the person realized that 399 was just trying to protect her food and her cubs, thus the woman pleaded with the Park Service, saying it was her fault and 399 shouldn’t be put down.
“But 399 is definitely protected by her fame and also the fact that she’s typically a good bear!” Vangoidtsenhoven said.
While the biggest threats to brown bears are habitat loss and human interference, they are also vulnerable to starvation. The bear’s primary diet consists of fish and plants, and with his long camera lens, Vangoidtsenhoven could see that 399’s teeth are showing her age; most grizzlies don’t live past 25.
“The vast majority of their diet is grazing so that means a lot of grinding,” he said. “For now, [her teeth] don’t look completely worn off ... they still look good enough to feed.”
Vangoidtsenhoven, who has always been interested in hiking and wildlife, started taking trips to the western Rocky Mountains, Canada, and Alaska after moving to the United States. He earned a degree in photography and was serious about changing his career in 2010. He then left a job in IT in 2018 to pursue photography full-time.
Inspired by the famous photo of a brown bear catching a fish in his mouth by Thomas Mangelsen, titled “Catch of the Day,” Vangoidtsenhoven took an interest in the then-vulnerable species and the work of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team formed in 2001.
“Every year they track the number of bears, put a collar on them, number them,” he said. “One of those bears had the number 399 on the ear tag. Year after year, [Mangelsen] took pictures, and because of his fame that specific bear got more and more famous.”
Vangoidtsenhoven visits Grand Teton National Park every spring between April and June to continue documenting grizzly bears, in the hopes that his photos will encourage others to celebrate nature and realize the impact of human intervention.
