Bear cubs hitch ride across Alaskan lake on their mother’s back

The family was crossing Lake Aleknagik in Wood Tikchik State Park, Alaska.

This is the moment a pair of bear cubs successfully crossed a large lake—by hitching a ride on their mother’s back.

The footage shows the mother bear tirelessly paddling through the large body of water while her two cubs perch on her neck in order to stay above water.

Having made a successful crossing of Lake Aleknagik, in Wood Tikchik State Park, Alaska, USA, the mother bear then darts up the beach to dry off, shaking off the young bears in the process.

Dave Roseman from Anchorage, Alaska, captured the footage of the family on his phone. He told Caters News:

I was running my boat down the lake and saw something in the distance directly in my path. Initially I assumed it was a flock of ducks or maybe a moose, so I couldn’t believe it when I realised it was two bear cubs on their mom’s back.

I grabbed my phone and started snapping as many photos as I could while trying to manoeuvre the boat so as to not to get in her way but still get a good shot. My heart was beating like crazy because I knew I was seeing something really special.

I’m still wondering how she was able to communicate to her cubs that, ‘It’s time to load up on my back and go for a swim!’

Despite working at the national park for 21 years, he added he’d never seen anything like it.

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Update:

As @leoplaw pointed out in the comments, the bear may have been reacting to undue stress caused by the proximity of the boat:

Cute yes, but no, I do not agree with the description.

The mother would have already been tired and stressed with two cubs on her back swimming across open water. Think about it, a mother looking out for her kids. Along comes a motor boat and tails them. This would have worried and stressed her more, because all three are vulnerable. So when she hit dry land, that was a sprint for dear life, not some merry, ah that was a fun swim, frolic on the shore.

Notice that she did not even stop to shake water off her fur, but as soon as she made cover of the bushes, looked back at the boat. The people in the boat caused these bears undue stress with their curiosity.

You can be assured, if you approached that same bear on dry land with her cubs, she would attack to protect her cubs. In the water she would have been freaking out.

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