Can you spot the Yellowstone grizzly bear family?

–Editor’s note: A similar version of this post was published June 1, 2024.

In Yellowstone National Park, a distant view of grizzly bears can be as satisfying as an up-close roadside view because it requires a keen eye and the bears are in more of a natural setting.

Can you spot the momma grizzly bear and her three cubs in the image I captured in late May from a hillside above the Lamar Valley highway? (Answer at the bottom.)

The bear family had been grazing on both sides of the highway, creating substantial traffic jams, or “bear jams.”

Momma bear is raising three first-year cubs, or cubs of the year, and the “COYS” were never far from mom while I watched them.

During this sighting the bears ascended the hillside opposite the valley after being run off by a bison herd in a meadow surrounded by sagebrush.

They were too far for me to capture a detailed image, but immediately above is a cropped version of a different image from the same sighting that shows the bears in more detail.

The bears in the “quiz” images atop this post are circled below.