One thing I find fascinating about bears is the complexity of their behaviors. Bears are intelligent and mentally flexible. They understand who can be friendly and who is not. They recognize each other as individuals and, despite their asocial reputation, bears can also be quite social when the right mood and circumstances strike.

In 2022, I, along with millions of bearcam viewers, watched two sister bears, each with their own cub, form their own version of a bonded, extended family.

Although this was not unprecedented among brown bears, the bonding between bears 909, 910, and their cubs was something that I had never seen before. I was fascinated by the story—so much so that I wrote a paper for the peer-review journal Ursus. Please head over to explore.org’s blog to read more and check out the paper in Ursus.

PS: Readers of my blog likely know that U.S. public land agencies and the civil servants within them are facing threats like I’ve never seen. Unjust firings of rangers and other National Park Service employees are gutting the NPS’s ability to protect and manage parks and extraordinary budget cuts may lead to the shuttering of park areas. The NPS may lose an additional 5,500 employees under the presidential administration’s proposed 2026 budget. Some members of Congress are also contemplating the sale of public lands.

Please contact your members of Congress and demand they oppose actions that are intended to harm public lands and public land agencies. Explore.org has set up some suggestions if you want to get started.

One of the difficulties that the NPS, among many federal agencies, is facing is the presidential administration’s freezing of funding that Congress has already appropriated. This is on top of the loss of thousands of employees already this year due to (often coerced) resignations and unjust firings. None of those actions were approved by Congress. Congressman Jared Golden, who represents my congressional district, has recently introduced the Protect our Parks Act of 2025 which would require the Secretary of the Interior to use funds that were already appropriated to complete NPS projects and fully staff national parks and reinstate employees that were unjustifiably fired. It is good legislation. A stop gap, for sure, but worth urging your member of Congress to vote for.