DENALI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska – Videographer, photographer, and conservationist Bill Watkins captured this incredible footage of a bear family (mother and two cubs) using a wooden Denali National Park wildlife sign as an epic back scratch. He explains that, in the past, nails driven into signs would discourage bears from using the signs, but that’s no longer done in Denali.
According to Alaska Fish & Wildlife, bears usually rub their backs on the back of trees and other objects as a form of chemical signaling, to mark the area as their territory. They typically investigate the object, giving it a good sniff, to determine if another has marked it previously. Then, if it’s good to go, they go crazy on the wood, spreading their oils and scent. It could also just be a way to take care of a good itch, though.
Denali National Park is home to both grizzly bears and black bears. The brown bears won’t be found in big groups like they are in Katmai National Park, though. They’re a lot more solitary, usually traveling alone or just with their cubs.
Denali Park Road, where this video was filmed, is the only road that runs through the park. It’s closed to private vehicles after the first 15 miles in the summer and after the first 30 miles in the spring and fall. Sable Pass has been effectively closed to private vehicles since 1957.