Famous Jackson Hole Grizzly 399 Wows Again, But Now What?

For 27 years, Jackson Hole Grizzly 399 has been strolling into human, biological and conservation history in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Unbeknownst to her, she’s become the most famous living wild bear on Earth. A delight to millions who have followed her meanderings in real time and remotely, 399 has been, all things considered, on a perilous path of survival punctuated by amazing longevity in a world not always welcoming to her species.
As fearsome as people have tried to portray grizzlies, it isn’t easy being a bear like her having to constantly navigate hazards in a human age called “the Anthropocene.”
This week, as yet another astonishing expression of 399’s endurance and knack for surprise, she came full circle on May 16, 2023, walking out of the Pilgrim Creek drainage in the north end of Grand Teton National Park with a new cub at her side. If bear years can be placed in human context, then think of 399 as both an old new mother and grandma passing through the fading twilight of senescence.  Read More…