A bear in Colorado took 400 selfies, is being called a star

Bears, like us, know that it’s impossible to get a good selfie in one take. As one bear in Colorado demonstrated, you should probably take 400 to be safe.

Last week, the Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks department posted merely four of the selfies, taken in November, to give us a taste of the magic.

“Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across #Boulder open space,” they said in a tweet. “Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies.”

Shannon Aulabaugh, a spokesperson for OSMP, says most of the time, wildlife pass the camera without stopping. But for whatever reason, this bear paused for an extensive photo shoot.

The bear’s work is a master class in vacation photos. Chin tilts, smoldering eyes, a coy look over the shoulder.

“The engagement is iconic, the confidence really comes through,” said Andrew Matecki, a Los Angeles talent casting and art director, adding that the bear could work in the industry (should it like to) a long time, given its versatility.

“She definitely knows her angles,” said Los Angeles fashion photographer Amanda Sophia

Rose. “She’s really catching you, bringing you in, having direct eye contact to the camera … like she’s done it before.”

(While we know the bear is a natural in front of the camera, “we don’t know male or female as the bear did not take that kind of selfie,” Aulabaugh added.)

The department has nine motion-detecting cameras set up in its 46,000-acre land system to study the local wildlife population from a safe distance. Once an animal is in their path, the cameras take a still photo and shoot 10- to 30-second videos. After dark, they use infrared light to illuminate critters, which causes less disturbance than a traditional flash. In addition to the photogenic bear, the cameras have also captured yipping coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, eagles and prairie dogs.

John Hechtel with the International Association for Bear Research and Management - a group of nearly 500 bear biologists, managers, technicians, educators and conservation practitioners in more than 40 countries — says this kind of wild animal exposure is more than internet fodder; it’s an effective tool for conservation efforts. The hope is that the more the public engages with viral bears, the more they’ll care about protecting bears and their habitats.