Watch a Cow Moose Defend Her Calves from a Black Bear

A recent video out of Alaska shows just how dangerous it can be to get between a mother moose and her progeny. In the four-and-half-minute clip, posted to Youtube on June 1, a cow moose repeatedly charges a black bear as it tries to prey on her two calves. When the bear approaches, the big moose barrels through the brush with remarkable speed, sending it up the trunk of a nearby tree. Undeterred, the black bear climbs down and continues its stalk, but the angry mother moose thwarts its attempts to attack her calves at every turn. Watch the scene unfold for yourself below.

According to the caption, the video was filmed on May 16 near Anchorage. The bear comes in with its nose to the wind, clearly catching the scent of the newborn calves hidden in the brush. The mother moose appears agitated from the start—her ears pinned back and hackles standing on end as she tries to stomp the bruin with her powerful front hooves.

The moose charges the bear no less than six times throughout the course of the video clip. Near the end, the bear drops from view into a gully, and the moose follows at full speed. When the bear pops back up, just inches from the tiny calves, the cow emerges from the ditch, stomps its hooves violently near the bear’s head, and the video cuts out.

Related: Watch an Absolutely Massive Grizzly Bear Use a Shed as an Itching Post

According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADFG), cow moose are famously defensive of their vulnerable young. They’re known for fighting off large predators that threaten calves. And more people in Alaska are injured by moose every year than by black and brown bears combined. 

“In a moose’s world, where bears and wolves want to eat you and are especially eager to eat your babies, kicking and stomping can be a formidable defense,” writes the ADFG on its website. “Sometimes people wind up on the wrong end of those hooves, usually belonging to a defensive mother moose.”