Bonding behavior of sister brown bears with different-aged offspring

This paper documents and describes the behavior of 2 sibling female brown bears (Ursus arctos) and their cubs as they bonded at Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA. Between mid-August and October 2022 the adult female bears and their cubs behaved much like a single family. The same-aged mothers each had a single cub. One cub was a first-year cub and the other was a yearling (second-year) cub. The mothers and their cubs frequently traveled, foraged, and played as a single group.