Grizzly Bear Siblings Travel Together

Grizzly Bear Siblings

It is common to see sub-adult grizzly siblings together on the Grizzly Bear Lodge’s bear tours. Depending on food abundance, mother grizzlies may keep their yearlings a second (even a third) year, denning together again and breaking up in the third (or fourth) year. Alone and vulnerable, siblings will often stay together for some time after their mother abandons them, eating and sleeping side-by-side, and even denning together. The average breeding age for female grizzlies is 4.5 years. Males reach sexual maturity at roughly the same age as their female counterparts. Even though males are capable of breeding at three or four years of age, they rarely have the opportunity to do so because of intense competition from older, bigger males. These two bears spent most of the summer in the area of the Glendale River.