For many people who operate trail cameras, spotting interesting wildlife moments is what keeps them motivated to keep checking and maintaining their equipment. One trail-cam owner captured an unexpected nature moment featuring two predators—a bear and a cougar—near Sooke, Canada. Karen Engbrecht shared her video with Wild Wise Society, which shared it to Facebook.
“Our team was speechless seeing this for the first time!” wrote Wild Wise Society in its Facebook post sharing the footage. Their shock is likely due to the rarity of these two animals interacting in front of a camera. The bear and the cougar don’t exactly go head to head, so what do you think happens?
See the bear-cougar interaction on a trail cam here:
What Happened?
The Wild Wise Society points out that neither animal was in attack mode in this situation. “It seems less like a hunt and more like a territorial protest between two predator species,” the organization wrote in its post.
“The cougar wasn’t running fast; definitely not in attack mode,” the Wild Wise Society adds. “The cat approached, stood its ground to observe the bear, and when the bear turned around to check what was behind it, it decided to make a quick retreat. The cougar instinctively followed for a short distance, but once the bear was out of sight, it called off the chase.”
Essentially, the presence of the other animal triggered each animal’s “fight or flight” instinct. The bear chose “flight,” and even though the cougar’s chase instinct initially took over, it wasn’t fully in “fight” mode either.
Header stock image by Hailshadow/Getty Images
Best Trail Cameras to Watch Wildlife
Learn more about the best trail cams here.
Outdoors.com may earn a commission when you make a purchase through affiliate links. Thank you for your support.