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A flourishing natural world relies upon a set of complex relationships: the predator-prey chain, the mycelium network, the carbon cycle. There’s one, however, that we often don’t think about — the relationship between humans and other animals, and the web of behaviors that arise from their interactions.
Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons, a compelling, hour-long documentary from PBS’s Nature series, explores this web through the story of mama bear Grizzly 399, as she raises a litter of four cubs at the age of 24 — an unheard of accomplishment in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Born in Pilgrim Creek, Wyoming in 1996, Grizzly 399 became one of the most famous bears in the world due in part to the photographs of Thomas Mangelsen, who documented her for over 15 years. The pictures led to an explosion of interest in the grizzly, bringing tourists from around the world to Grand Teton National Park, hoping for a glimpse.
As traffic in the Park increased, Grizzly 399 realized that humans could play a helpful role in protecting her cubs. The biggest threat to a young cub is other grizzlies — during mating season, male bears will often try to kill cubs, as adult female bears will not mate again until the litter is raised. However, male bears also despise being close to people. By becoming habituated to humans and rearing her young alongside busy roads that adult males avoid, Grizzly 399 became exceptionally successful at raising them to adulthood.
This is where things get trickier: more visitors to the Park generates more money for conservation, resulting in a more robust grizzly population, which in turn creates more human-bear interactions — like when a hiker accidentally spooked Grizzly 399 in 2007, causing her to charge, nearly leaving the man dead.
This kind of unfortunate interaction is why Wyoming, along with neighboring Idaho and Montana, have begun petitioning the government to take grizzlies off the Endangered Species list, opening up the population to hunting for protection and food. The famed roadside bears, like Grizzly 399, who helped generate the money needed for conservation in the first place, would likely be the first hunted due to their habituated nature. Still… allowing hunting could generate even more dollars for conservation. On the other hand, it could lead to a decimation similar to the one currently occurring amongst wolves in the same region.
It’s these complicated contradictions and unintended consequences that make Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons such a compelling watch. Over and over again, the documentary weaves new threads, each further intertwining the lives of the grizzly and humans. At its core, though, the movie remains the heartwarming story of an extraordinary mother and her four rambunctious cubs, just trying to find their place in the ever-changing ecosystem.
There are two recent addendums to the tale of Grizzly 399: In January 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that grizzly bears would remain protected by the Endangered Species Act, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, it is a success that Grizzly 399 will never personally know. The Queen of the Tetons, who relied on traffic to protect her and her children, was killed in a collision with a vehicle last October. She was one of only 12 known grizzly bears in the Greater Yellow Ecosystem to reach the age of 28, and while most female bears will raise a maximum of 10 or so cubs over their lifetimes, Grizzly 399 raised an extraordinary 18.
