A bear in Colorado took hundreds of pictures on a wildlife camera a few months ago, surprising officials.
Local authorities have said that a black bear in Boulder, Colorado, was the subject of about 400 of photos on one of its wildlife cameras in November.
“These pictures made us laugh, and we thought others would, too,” Phillip Yates, a spokesperson for Open Space and Mountain Parks, reportedly said in a statement this week.
The camera had around 580 photographs on it, but around 400 of them were “bear selfies,” the department said in a tweet.
Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across #Boulder open space. Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies.🤣 Read more about we use wildlife cameras to observe sensitive wildlife habitats. https://t.co/1hmLB3MHlU pic.twitter.com/714BELWK6c
— Boulder OSMP (@boulderosmp) January 23, 2023
The Open Space and Mountain Parks for Boulder put nine wildlife cameras up in order to help them learn additional details about animals that live in the area, while keeping employees out of the habitats. The devices are placed in the Open Space and Mountain Parks system, which is an area of 46,000 acres.
The photos were also put up on Instagram a few months ago.
“In this instance, a bear took a special interest in one of our wildlife cameras and took the opportunity to capture hundreds of ‘selfies,’” Yates noted.
The photographs “provide us with a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats,” Yates said.
“The motion-detecting cameras provide us a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats,” Will Keeley, senior wildlife ecologist for Open Space and Mountain Parks, said.
“These cameras play an important role in helping OSMP staff identify important wildlife areas. The information we collect from them is used to recommend habitat-protective measures to help protect sensitive natural areas,” Keeley added.
The group also puts the cameras in places where animals will likely pass through, and they also put them in locations where there is evidence that animals have been.
When a creature gets in front of the camera, the device takes a photo and the camera can then record footage for ten to thirty seconds.
“Sometimes we put cameras in locations where we think we’ll encounter enigmatic fauna like American beavers or black bears,” Christian Nunes, a wildlife ecologist with OSMP, added. “We are fortunate to live in an area with a rich diversity of wildlife species, and these cameras help us to learn what animals are really out there, and what they are up to over the course of a day, a week, or even years.”