With strides in lockstep, Grizzly 399 and her yearling cub, Spirit, roam the lime green landscape of spring in the Tetons. As a cub of the world’s most famous bear, he has big paws to fill. Despite being just one year old, Spirit is an especially large cub, easily confused for an adolescent at least twice his age. From the moment of his emergence in 2023, he has surprised bear watchers with his rapid growth—a testament to his skilled mother’s care. Having raised 17 cubs prior to Spirit, many of them in larger litters of 2-4, 399 is the most experienced grizzly mother on record. With just a single cub, her task of motherhood seems to come with relative ease.
