As warmer temperatures arrive earlier than usual across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, wildlife experts say the current spring conditions are creating a dangerous rise in human-bear encounters heading into the busy summer tourism season.

Spring is a time for courting and mating for grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park, but this typically occurs beyond the prying eyes of tourists. The accompanying footage, captured May 20 near Yellowstone Lake,

Wolf and grizzly bear sightings are fairly common in Yellowstone. But scenes such as these, illustrating the life-or-death struggle for sustenance among apex predators, are rarely documented in such detail.

Officials must determine whether the bear was defending itself or acting aggressively — a decision that will decide the animal's fate.

Yellowstone National Park sees millions of tourists every single year, but only a lucky fraction ever get a front-row seat to this level of raw, untamed wilderness. In an incredible video captured by tour guide Adam Brubaker of Tied to Nature,

Mystic Falls, near Old Faithful — that until 2024 had been closed to reduce the chance of conflicts with grizzly bears.

Drones are banned in Yellowstone and across all National Park Service sites. Cowboy State Daily reported that the agency classifies them as uncrewed aircraft, and using one without authorization is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $5,000 fine.

This year, the American West saw a warmer and largely snowless winter. That means grizzly bears are coming out earlier than usual, and more humans are coming out to see them, creating so-called bear jams - rubbernecking tourists, photographers and hikers ...

There are now more grizzly bears in more places in and around Yellowstone National Park than at any time in over a century. But until this spring, the population lacked genetic diversity. Montana Public Radio’s Nick Mott reports on how fresh bear genes got into Yellowstone,