Here’s the situation: you are hanging out at your campsite or on a picnic area beach in Yosemite, when you hear a branch crack behind you. You turn around to find a bear approaching. What do you do?

You stand up, face the bear, wave your arms, and yell at the bear. We mean YELL at the bear, as loudly as you possibly can. Be aggressive with your voice and body language. You’re not just making noise; you’re scaring a bear away! You have to mean it for it to work.

Here are some examples of things you can yell:

HEY BEAR!!

GO BEAR!!!

GET OUT OF HERE BEAR!!

Or even just: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BEAR!!!!!!!!!

One half-hearted yell may not be enough to scare a bear. So, keep yelling LOUDLY and AGGRESSIVELY until the bear leaves. Yell, clap your hands, wave your arms, hit a stick against a tree, get other people to help you yell! You can even throw small objects like pinecones or small pebbles at the bear to help scare it. (You’re trying to gently hit the bear with the pebble or pinecone—not injure it: Bears don’t like being touched.) Don’t chase the bear; just use your voice to scare it away.

Do you have time to snap a quick picture? No! 

Do you have time to look around for a pot to bang or a whistle to blow? No! Use your voice! Your voice is your most effective tool to scare a bear away (and you don’t have to go looking for it… unless you’re really scared). 

When a bear is around people, it could be only moments away from getting food, so you need to make it feel unwelcome immediately. Once a bear is eating food, it will be harder to scare away and much more likely to return in search of more food, ultimately getting itself into more trouble. We also want bears to be immediately afraid of people (as they naturally are), rather than assuming most people aren’t scary.

Bears that consume human food typically have decayed and damaged teeth. But that’s not the only negative consequence: when a bear gets food from people, even just a banana, the bear will change its natural behavior. Bears are extremely food-driven and a bear that gets human food will often become so bold in its attempts at getting human food that it has to be killed to protect people. So, when you see a bear approaching you or in any developed area (e.g., campground, picnic area, trail, parking lot), it is important to scare it away immediately, stopping this cycle, and helping keep the bear wild and alive. Yes, yelling at a bear helps keep it alive.

What about when you see a bear in a meadow, in the wilderness, or anywhere else away from human development or people—should you scare it? Generally, no. Do you have time to snap a quick picture? Probably, if you are at least 50 yards away from the bear. It can be one of the best Yosemite experiences getting to watch a wild bear do wild bear things.

Are you having trouble envisioning scaring a bear away? This video shows what it sounds and looks like. This advice applies in Yosemite; always check local recommendations when visiting bear country. 

Black bear mother and cubs (Photo: Robert G. Lester)

In the last three weeks, at least four bears were hit by cars in Yosemite, at least two of which were killed. The two bears that survived were hit by drivers going faster than the 25 mph speed limit and were seriously injured and limping. We will never know the severity of their injuries. It is important to remember that while traveling in the park, the posted speed limits are not only there to protect people, but to also protect wildlife in areas where animals cross roads. Following posted speed limits may save the life of a great gray owl as it flies across the road, or a Pacific fisher as it runs across the road, both of which are endangered species. This easy action—slowing down—may also prevent you from hitting a bear eating berries on the side of the road, or a deer crossing with its fawn. While traveling through Yosemite, try to remember that we are all visitors in the home of countless animals, and it is up to you to follow the rules that are put in place to protect them.

Have you ever noticed the signs by the side of the road that say, “Speeding Kills Bears” with the image of a red bear on them? These signs mark the locations of bears where they have been hit by a vehicle this year, or where bears have been frequently hit in previous years. We take these signs down each winter and put them up as the accidents occur, hopefully as a reminder to visitors to slow down and keep a lookout for wildlife. If you do hit an animal while in Yosemite and need immediate ranger response, you can report it to the park’s emergency communication center at 209/379-1992, or by leaving a message on the Save-A-Bear Hotline at 209/372-0322 if you believe that the animal is uninjured. You may also use the Save-A-Bear Hotline number to report non-urgent bear observations.

It’s a simple fact that black bears spend their whole life following their stomachs, including in winter. Similar to the postman’s motto, “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night,” keeps a bear from eating its fill. So for bears in Yosemite, winter denning is not associated with the weather so much as it is linked to food availability. There are years when oak trees make an over-abundance of acorns, considered a mast year, and bears can been seen all winter digging under feet of snow to feast on acorns. Similarly, it has been reported in other areas that bears will rouse from winter dens to take advantage of trash cans that are put out curbside every week on trash day. So while bear behavior can be motivated by both human and unnatural foods, it is not uncommon to find bear tracks in the snow and it is important to always lock up food in a hard-sided structure or in a food locker when visiting Yosemite.

Picture taken recently from the Yosemite Museum of a bear in the snow.

Recent tracks of several bears still active in Yosemite Valley despite winter storms.

Scat (Photo: NPS)

You are walking along outside when you come upon a large pile of poop. How can you tell if it’s bear poop? Given the variation in their diets, bear scat from one bear can look very different from another bear. Poop from the same bear may look entirely different on different days. So, how can you tell? 

Grass scat (Photo: NPS)

Black bears are omnivores and eat a wide range of foods including grass, roots, fruit, insects, fish, and animal carcasses. Their digestive system is similar to a human’s; they have a stomach and a small and large intestine. Some things will digest in the bear’s stomach and won’t be visible in the scat, while other things, like apple peels, seeds, fur, and bones will be present in the poop. Black bear poop can take on many shapes. The color and composition of their poop will change with the seasons, as does their diet. In the spring, bears eat a lot of grass and insects, so their poop is often green and tubular, with grass visible. In the late summer and fall, bear poop will be looser and in large plops, with berries and apple pieces visible. 

Berry scat (Photo: NPS)

What other types of poop may you come across? Here in Yosemite, you may stumble upon coyote, raccoon, mountain lion, or bobcat poop, all of which can be confused with bear poop. Coyote poop is also tubular and may contain the same foods, but it usually looks like a pile of twisted rope. Raccoons go to the bathroom in the same spot over and over, so their poops will be found in large piles called latrines. Bobcats and mountain lions both have segmented poops, a characteristic common to felines. Their poop is dense and won’t flatten if you step on it. All of the poop piles mentioned above are smaller than a bear’s. 

Scat (Photo: NPS)

Well, now that you’ve got the data on the scat-a, go out and find some bear poop!