A fiercesome and rare piece of footage was capture in Whistler, British Columbia, between two of the area’s most recognizable apex predators: a resident mother black bear named Ruby and a grizzly bear known as Hershey.
The battle erupted when Hershey attempted to attack Ruby’s cub, triggering a fierce defensive reaction from the protective mother black bear. While Whistler is famous for its thriving population of roughly 50 to 70 black bears, who are frequent and familiar sights around the valley and ski resort, grizzly bears are a much scarcer presence. Only a small, threatened population of grizzlies ranges deep in the surrounding Sea to Sky wilderness, though their numbers have been slowly recovering.
Grizzly bears are opportunistic predators that will occasionally prey on black bear cubs. Because grizzlies are significantly larger and more aggressive, weighing up to 1,000 pounds compared to a female black bear’s average of 150 to 300 pounds, black bears have evolved to favor dense forests and expert tree-climbing skills specifically to keep their vulnerable cubs out of the grizzly’s reach.
Witnessing this type interspecies battle is incredibly rare. Although both species coexist in the broader British Columbia ecosystem, they actively try to avoid one another, with the naturally more skittish black bears choosing to flee into inaccessible terrain long before a grizzly approaches. Because these apex predators rarely cross paths in open view, and a mother black bear will only stand her ground against a massive grizzly when her offspring’s life is directly on the line, the footage is likely once in a lifetime type of sighting.
