An Alaska couple almost couldn’t believe their eyes.
Darlene Meads Clark said her husband, Al, retrieved his game camera in Cordova, Alaska, only to find footage of one very focused bear letting out its inner Baloo.
The bear is caught on video rubbing its back up against a tree. At one point, the bruin even uses another tree as a brace to really, really get that itchy part.
“I have never seen Al laugh so hard,” Clark posted on Facebook.
She also posted the video on the My Home is Alaska Facebook group where it has enjoyed thousands of views and shares.
“Footage from my husband’s game cam,” she wrote. “We have never laughed so hard.”
“He had no idea he was being watched,” she added.
And yes, it is a little Bare Necessities.
But there’s a reason for all this back scratching.
Forests in bear territory are full of “rub trees.”
Those are trees where bears use a rub and scratch posts over generations. It helps establish the animal’s presence, and perhaps even, their social status in the bear hierarchy.
Parks Canada has done some pretty neat research on this topic.
“As an experiment, we spread some short-acting scents in front of six cameras … to see if they might help us ‘detect’ more animals,” Parks explained.
“Although it may look like they’re dancing and having a great time, it’s worth remembering how hard it is to be a wild animal — especially if you’re a grizzly cub and that big male who visits the rub tree soon after you isn’t your Dad,” the department added.
Photos Darlene Meads Clark/Facebook
