Best Bear Documentaries to Watch Now
Bears of all kinds have captured our imagination and been featured in stories of bravery and kindness, of savagery and playfulness. And think about how many people have owned (or own -- no judgment here!) beloved plush bear toys? Clearly, we love bears so let's learn more about these majestic animals.
Start with some basic bear facts
Currently, there are eight living species of bear around the world: Polar bear, Brown bear, Black bear, Andean (Spectacled) bear, Panda bear, Himalayan (Moon) bear, Sloth bear, Sun bear. Bears are found in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. The Atlas bear (a subspecies of the brown bear) once lived in the Tetouan Mountains of Morocco, but went extinct from habitat loss and overhunting in the late 1800s.
All bears are omnivores, but their diets are incredibly diverse. For example, panda diets consist of mostly plants (bamboo shoots and leaves make up over 90% of their diets) while polar bears are known to eat things like seals and kelp, and to scavenge the meat on whale carcasses. Sloth bears enjoy termites and insects. Spectacled bears prefer berries and honey. Wherever a bear species finds itself, it is one of the largest animals around, with few -- or no -- natural predators.
Science Trek: Bear Types
There are eight species of bears in the world: black bears, brown bears, polar bears, Asiatic black bears, spectacled bears, sun bears, sloth bears and panda Bears. What’s unique about each kind of bear?
If you or your family want to learn more about bears, Science Trek has many more great videos you can watch, including: "The Bear Truth" and "Bear or Not a Bear," and "Grizzly, the Bear in a Coat."
Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons
We remember Grizzly 399, the most famous bear to live in Grand Teton National Park. She was known by her research number and NATURE had made this documentary about her life in Wyoming's Teton Range and her efforts to raise 4 new cubs before her passing in October of 2024.
The Mystery Behind the Biggest Bears of All Time
From EONS: The short-faced bears turned out to be remarkably adaptable, undergoing radical changes to meet the demands of two changing continents. And yet, for reasons we don’t quite understand, their adaptability wasn’t enough to keep them from going extinct.
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Meet the Spectacled Bear (The Real-Life Paddington Bear!)
From NATURE: The spectacled bear is the species on which the character Paddington Bear is based. And just like the fictional character's love for marmalade sandwiches, this spectacled bear has a sweet tooth.
Black Bear Cubs Practice Climbing
Enjoy this clip of baby black bears from NATURE: Climbing trees is a survival skill black bears utilize from a very young age, but perfecting the skill takes practice.
How Male Bears Attract Mates
From the "Dracula's Hidden Kingdom" episode of NATURE: During the mating season, tensions are high among the male bears of Transylvania as they search for mates. The males battle to show off for potential partners.
Learning the Bear Necessities of Life
In this clip from Wild Scandinavia, we meet the brown bears of Finland. (The national animal of Finland, in fact!)
In the forests of Finland during early spring, a mother brown bear has emerged from hibernation with her cubs. She starts to teach them some important life lessons, such as how to climb trees away from danger. Climbing up the towering pine trees seems to be easy enough, but it is harder to get back down.
Unexplored Bear Country
On Season 2 of Expedition with Steve Backshall, the team visited Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Steve and his team of fellow kayakers continue their first descent down the Kronotsky River into prime bear territory. They must secure all of their gear onto an inflatable raft to protect it from the wild rapids.
Filming Polar Bears
From the docu-series Dynamic Planet: Cinematographer Adam Ravetch films the unique behavior of polar bears hunting beluga whales in Canada.
The Great Polar Bear Feast
"The Great Polar Bear Feast" is the astonishing story of an annual natural phenomenon that occurs in early September on the north slope of the Arctic. Every year, up to 80 polar bears gather on the frozen shores of Barter Island, near the village of Kaktovik, to feast on the hunter-harvested bowhead whale remains. This extraordinary gathering is highly unusual because polar bears are known as solitary predators, rarely - if ever - moving in a group.
In this clip: Polar Bears and the Kaktovic community both feast on the Bowhead Whale. But the normally solitary bears must navigate a complex social scene as more than 80 now gather for the feed.
Wild Panda Courtship Filmed for First Time
In this clip from a 2020 NATURE documentary about pandas in the wild: The courtship rituals of wild Giant Pandas have never been filmed before. The filmmakers trek alongside park rangers in the Qinling Mountains to track down a male during the breeding season and eventually stumble on an exceedingly rare sight – a fertile female being fought over by two males. This behavior may help shed light on why pandas have such difficulty breeding in captivity.
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