Representative Image.
According to the North American Bear Center, bears do this during the mating season in order to leave their scent. This helps in communicating with a potential mate in the area.
Netizens are loving this video of a dancing bear in which he appears to dance while scratching his back with the help of a tree branch. The video was shot somewhere in Washington in the USA.
The bear can be seen moving his legs up and down, rubbing its back on the thin branch of a fallen tree. While he is doing this action, it also appears like he is dancing by moving his legs up and down. The area looks desolate and there are several trees around the bear. The incident happened around 7:45 am on October 6, reported Daily Mail.
You might think that this movement of the animal means that he is scratching his back but that is not the truth. According to the North American Bear Center, bears do this during the mating season in order to leave their scent. This helps in communicating with a potential mate in the area.
The bear rubs many of its body parts — crown, shoulders and neck — and sometimes even create visible marks with his claws to establish his presence in the area when looking for a mate. Sometimes they may do so with extreme force and the bark might get pulled out. They are American black bears who have a sub-species named Kermode. These animals have white or cream-coloured fur. Only one in 10 black bears possess this gene which can make their fur different in colour.
As per the report, one of these rare Kermode bears was also spotted in British Columbia, Canada in August 2020 rubbing its back on a wooden pole.
It has been reported that in the state of New Jersey of the USA, 135 black bears have been killed so far in the six-day-long hunt. It is prohibited to hunt in wildlife management areas, state parks and forests.
Source: Bears Often ‘Scratch’ Their Backs to Leave a Scent on Tree. It’s a Mating Call
