An adorable backyard video filmed in Colorado shows the moment two bears were caught playing, splashing, swimming, and even doggy paddling along the edge of the pool.
The bear duo appears to nuzzle and grapple each other while dipping their paws and snout into the water as if to test out the temperature. At one point, it even appears that one of the bears gently nudges their comrade directly into the pool. The video was captured around 4pm local time on October 9 when the temperature was around 30°C (80° F).
“Don’t feel too bad that you didn’t get an invite, we didn’t get invited either,” Tweeted the Boulder Police Department.
Though they may appear as cute and cuddly as their namesake Teddy Bear, bears can be extremely dangerous. Just look at these two massive grizzly bears seen in Canada duking it out as a wolf casually watched in the background. However, it is likely the couple are two black bears as the state is no longer home to larger grizzly bears due to human hunting, reports Colorado Public Radio. The American black bear (Ursus americanus) is the smallest of three North American species of bear with males measuring 130-190 centimeters (50-75 inches) in length and weighing 60-300 kilograms (130-660 pounds), according to the International Association for Bear Research and Management. Females tend to be a bit smaller.
Though the American black bear is now locally extinct across much of its former range throughout the central part of the US and into Mexico, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the American black bear as a species of least concern and estimates there are currently between 850,000 and 950,000 individuals across the North American continent.
This time of year, interactions between bears and humans increases as the animals begin to prepare for hibernation. During the summer, bears consume plants and insects but as they transition to the hyperphagia phase, a period characterized as a “feeding frenzy” of fruits, nuts, and fish helps the large animals put on fat for winter hibernation – as demonstrated by Alaska's famous Fat Bear Week. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, bears can forage for up to 20 hours per day and may migrate between 20 and 30 miles from where they spend their summer to their fall range.
With that amount of work, it should come as no surprise that this bear duo took a much-needed pool break.
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