Grizzly bears spend up to seven Wintery months hibernating, and in that time, they can lose a substantial amount of their body weight. While surrounding males are toying around in an effort to determine who is more dominant, this female is more worried about the safety of her cub, as roughhousing males can injure or kill it.
The mother grizzly’s lengthy hibernation has cost her almost a third of her body weight, and in order to protect her cub from the pumped-up males around her, she’s going to need to get some meat back on her bones. Unfortunately, the landscape’s grass simply won’t cut it.
Instead, the mother and her cub venture to a nearby oceanic coastline. They know the tide will eventually recede, and this will provide them with an opportunity to snack on whatever gets left behind by the ocean’s briny water.
Using their powerful noses, they sniff around the multi-mile mud flats for clams, a vital source of protein that will help the bears regain their body weight. Their jaws make quick work of cracking the clamshells, and from there, they can lick the clams up for a tasty meal. The bears will eat close to 200 clams per day to suit their appetites before the real hunting season begins.
