A brave mother bear who fought off a brutal attack by a male has been found dead along with her cubs in Spain.
Spanish wildlife officers found the bodies lying in a 108-foot crevice in the Castile and León region, the Junta de Castilla y León said in a press release.
It comes three months after the mother bear was filmed defending her cubs from a male bear, who pushed her over the side of a steep cliff.
Footage taken by hikers from June shows a male bear approaching the sow and her cub. The male immediately begins to attack the female, who starts fighting back. The cub can be seen moving behind its mother.
There are an estimated 330 brown bears living in northern Spain. The behavior displayed by the male bear is not uncommon. During mating season, male bears will often go on cub-killing sprees. This is because it triggers the female to go into an estrous cycle—a recurring period of sexual receptivity and fertility.
In the footage, as the fight intensifies, the two fighting bears creep towards the edge of the cliff.
They both then fall over the edge, tumbling down a steep decline. The male bear stops falling at the bottom of the cliff, but the mother keeps falling down until she stops, lying motionless. The cub is nowhere to be seen.
Shortly after the incident, Spanish authorities issued a statement on June 8 confirming that they had found the female bear alive, sheltering in a cave with her cub.
But they were not able to see the severity of her injuries due to the deepness, and narrowness of the cave. Food and water was placed at the entrance of the cave.
Authorities also confirmed the male bear had died after the fall, having found his body at the bottom of the cliff.
But as time went on the female bear and her cub became more and more unwell. Authorities eventually found three bears–the mother, and two cubs—dead deep inside the cave.
Authorities confirmed both bear cubs belonged to the female bear although one had gone missing in the days before the fall. It is possible that the second cub had already fallen down the cliff before the male bear attacked.
Guillermo Palomero head of the Brown Bear Foundation, who took part in the search for the bears, told AFP that male bears "have an instinct" to kill cubs.
"They look for female bears with cubs that they can kill," Palomero said. He said these attacks can be "very violent."
Such efforts were taken to find the bears as they are a protected species in this region. They have been protected since 1973 and multiple conservation efforts have been initiated over the past few decades.
Brown bears from Slovenia have previously been introduced to the environment in efforts to restore the population.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jqGcmqqkl7%2BmrcpmmauZppp6o7HAq2Smp51is7DBxqGrZqeWm3qurcueZJykmZuzbrLOrqWdZZSarqV5kHBraXFgaQ%3D%3D