top of page
VOCALIZATIONS AND BEHAVIORS
When a bear makes sounds and gestures, what do they mean to communicate? We cannot speak bear, but we can have a very good idea what a bear wants to say when it speaks. We can watch how a bear communicates with other bears and then recognize the similarities when a bear tries to communicate with a human. What we have learned is that when bears communicate with people in this manner, an attack on a person has not happened.
Too often bears are killed by people for communicating with people the best way they know how. The bears are killed because their behavior during communication is misunderstood as being aggressive and dangerous. The communicating bear is not aggressive, it is uneasy and nervous.
Mike McIntosh
WiseAboutBears.org
Video and Audio files provided by the Wildlife Research Institute and the North American Bear Center
Family and Friendly Sounds
Scary Sounds You Shouldn't Be Afraid Of
bottom of page