"Felt cute, might delete later": Bear discovers trail cam and gets 400 pictures taken

A black bear wandering a trail in Boulder recently found a wildlife camera that the city's Open Space and Mountain Parks agency uses to monitor wildlife.

What resulted was about 400 pictures from close up, making it appear like the bear was taking selfies.

"Recently, a bear discovered a wildlife camera that we use to monitor wildlife across Boulder open space," the agency tweeted. "Of the 580 photos captured, about 400 were bear selfies."

Colorado Parks and Wildlife retweeted that tweet, saying, "Felt cute, might delete later."

"Sometimes we put cameras in locations where we think we'll encounter enigmatic fauna like American beavers or black bears," said Christian Nunes, a wildlife ecologist with OSMP. "We are fortunate to live in an area with a rich diversity of wildlife species, and these cameras help us to learn what animals are really out there, and what they are up to over the course of a day, a week, or even years."  

Boulder OSMP has nine cameras across 46,000 acres of public land to help the department learn more about how local wildlife species use the landscape.

The agency has also put a video compilation on its website showing some of the creatures that have gotten close to the cameras.

It includes footage of deer, mountain lions, bobcats, a wild turkey, a prairie dog and more:

"The motion-detecting cameras provide us a unique opportunity to learn more about how local species use the landscape around us while minimizing our presence in sensitive habitats," says Will Keeley, senior wildlife ecologist for Open Space and Mountain Parks. "These cameras play an important role in helping OSMP staff identify important wildlife areas. The information we collect from them is used to recommend habitat-protective measures to help protect sensitive natural areas.".