Bear Strikes Several Hundred Poses with City's Wildlife Camera
Michelle Milliken
When we decide to take a selfie, we may be a bit particular and take a few... dozen before liking one. One bear in Colorado recently took this to a bit of an extreme, though, taking hundreds.
A recent Twitter post by the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks highlighted this photo-ready critter, saying a camera they had set up to monitor wildlife across the city's open spaces had taken 580 photos. Of them, 400 were of the same bear.
Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across #Boulder open space. Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies.🤣 Read more about we use wildlife cameras to observe sensitive wildlife habitats. https://t.co/1hmLB3MHlU pic.twitter.com/714BELWK6c
— Boulder OSMP (@boulderosmp) January 23, 2023
The agency originally shared some of the pictures on Instagram a couple of months earlier. The photos were from just about every angle: below, a standard side profile, head slightly turned to the side, tongue sticking out. This bear was practically ready for some casting calls with all the headshots. There was even a photo of the animal's foot.
While the experience gave the bear plenty of confidence and a glamorous experience, the agency shared a blog with the pictures, explaining that the cameras help city officials get a better idea of how wildlife uses the open spaces, without causing too much of a disturbance.
Will Keeley, senior wildlife ecologist for Open Space and Mountain Parks, explains, "The motion-detecting cameras provide us a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats. These cameras play an important role in helping OSMP staff identify important wildlife areas. The information we collect from them is used to recommend habitat-protective measures to help protect sensitive natural areas."
The agency sets these cameras up in areas within their 46,000-acre jurisdiction where animals are apt to be. That may include road underpasses or spots with signs of wildlife activity. When an animal steps in front of a camera, the camera is activated and takes a still photo. It's also able to capture video for 10 to 30 seconds. At night time, the cameras use infrared light so as not to be too disorienting to nocturnal animals.
What's unclear is how disorienting this bear runway show may have been to other nocturnal animals.
