Humans have participated in various activities since ancient times that have slowly evolved into competitive sports. However, people consider some sports too extreme for the mainstream, like free climbing. Alex Honnold fascinated everyone when he free-soloed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Yet few could ever dream of replicating Honnold’s achievement unless they are a rock-climbing black bear who resides at the Santa Elena Canyon in Texas.

Bears are good climbers despite their bulk. However, Big Bend National Park’s endangered Mexican black bears would put professional rock climbers to shame. A viral video from 2014 shows how easily the massive animals climb sheer rock faces.

The astonishing rock climbing bears of Texas

In March 2014, Stephanie Latimer visited the Big Bend National Park in Texas. While kayaking through the famous Santa Elena Canyon, Latimer spotted something unusual. She spotted two black bears claiming up a rock wall. Stephani filmed the bears and uploaded a video on YouTube for the world to see. The video went viral and currently sits at a whopping 18 million views.

Despite the fact that Santa Elna Canyon is a popular spot for overnight paddlers, and vacationers, Latimer was one of the first civilians to film and release a video of the climbing bears. She uploaded the YoTube video in April 2014. In the video titled Rock Climbing Bears, Latimer filmed a mother and her cub scaling a rock face. While the adult bear makes it to the top without difficulty, the video shows the cub having trouble following its mother.

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However, astonishingly the much smaller cub navigated the treacherous rock face and found an alternate route to climb to the top. The people in the comments couldn’t believe how skillfully and intelligently the bear cub handled the situation. Many rock climbers have lost their lives after getting into such precarious situations.

The bear cub impressed fellow rock climbers

It’s clear from the video that such climbs are part of the bears’ daily routine. However, people with the working knowledge of rock climbing commented on the impressive feat. “The Little bear tried to follow mom’s route, but he wasn’t long enough to reach the next steps. So he ‘remapped’ the route in his brain, and took a different path, where he could reach the crevices to make it. That is intelligence,” commented one user.

“Cub is using legit climbing techniques, straight arms, around two foot placements per arm movement, hips close to the wall. Incredible,” another user commented.

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What did you think about the viral video of the rock-climbing bears? Write your thoughts in the comments.