Video: Grizzly Bear Caught “Pole Dancing” on Camera
OutdoorHub Reporters 05.21.15
In the age of smartphones, even something as innocent as a bear scratching its back on a road sign can end up on the internet. Michael Ethridge, 66, took this footage while driving through Rapid County, South Dakota in the summer of 2014. He was more than a little surprised when a grizzly bear strolled over to a “Do Not Enter” sign and—ignoring the car full of people a few feet away—started breaking out some moves that wouldn’t look out of place in a pole dancing class.
It almost reminds us of this video.
Bears love rubbing themselves on anything they can, but they especially love smooth surfaces. They don’t just do it to relieve an itch either. Male bears will often rub trees as a means of communicating with other bears or marking territory, sort of like a message board. What message do you think this bear was trying to spell out?
Edit 5-27-2015: The video appears to show a brown-colored black bear instead of a grizzly, and may have been taken near Rapid City, South Dakota instead of Rapid County, which does not exist.
