While showing me pictures of two cute cubs playing, Bertil explains: “Bear cubs are born in the den around the end of January. Then they are as small as rats, but they grow quickly so that when they emerge in the spring, they are big enough to roll around, fight, and play near their mother.”

Cuddly Cubs Not to be Hugged

“Anyone who happens to see such cute soft bundles in a glade would probably like to join them in their play and even hug them,” I suggest.

“Oh, be careful!” Bertil warns. “A mother bear will not even let you get within sight of her cubs. That’s why it is extremely difficult to take pictures of a mother with her cubs. On different occasions during a period of four years, I tried in vain to take pictures of a bear family from a hideout in a forest. Then, one day in May at sunset, this happened:

“I was on my way to my blind 200 feet [60 m] away when I suddenly saw a large bundle near the carrion that I had put out in the middle of the bog. A bear! Soon two half-grown cubs from last year appeared at the edge of the bog. The wind was to my advantage, blowing toward me. With my cameras around my neck, I crept 60 feet [20 m] toward the edge of the bog and crouched down behind a pine​—just a stone’s throw from the bears. When the cubs joined their mother, they looked on curiously as she buried the carrion. In the meantime I took a number of good pictures.

“At sunset, before the curtain fell on this spectacle, I saw what few people have ever seen. When the mother finished digging, the cubs began clinging to her. They nudged her side and bellowed monotonously. Suddenly she sat down and began suckling her cubs. After a while she turned over on her back and lifted her head, watching her cubs lovingly while they finished their supper. When they were satisfied, they huddled up next to her to sleep.

Caution​—mother with her cubs