Grizzly #399's Child?

This bear was feeding on the North end of Jackson Lake this morning. I have photographed one other of 399's adult cubs before. This bear looks just like him. Maybe some of you are familiar with 399 and her cubs. Comments welcome

I don't follow wildlife that closely (I don't have and can't afford big glass), so I wonder if you could fill in those of us that are uninformed about 399 and her story? I like the light and autumn color in the grass as a contrast to the bear's coat.

I was able to photograph 399 and her yearling cubs in May, 2007 on a trip to Yellowstone and GTNP. I first learned that she was famous on a Yellowstone bulletin board that I was observing for a few months before that trip. She is well known as a "good" bear despite being habituated, having trotted at least 2 batches of cubs out for public viewing in the area near Jackson Lake Dam. As a testament to her character, 2 weeks after I saw her in 2007 she was in an "incident" that resulted in a chewed tourist but because of her history she was not relocated like most bears are. I heard that one of the female cubs I saw in 2007 was killed by a hunter outside the park in the fall of 2008.

When I was in the Tetons in May of this year I asked every ranger I came across if she had been heard from and was universally told "no, we haven't seen her yet this year" but I heard later in the summer that she was back with a group of this year's cubs. I certainly hope the bear pictured above is one of her offspring. I spent quite a few happy hours observing them in 2007.

399 is a female grizzly that has resided in the North end of the Grand Teton National Park. She has birthed and raised 5 cubs that I know of, a set of three and a pair. Her cubs tend to stay in Teton valley. I have found mature cubs twice. My son has a set of photos of her with 3 cubs. She is still around. One of her cubs was shot by a hunter last fall. He was fined 500.00. Like the wolves in Yellowstone, there are folks that know every wolf, by name, parentage and number. This is also the case with Grizzly. There are wolf people up here and grizzly people. Pretty cool.

A little surprised at the sudden appearance of this grizz.

One more

Robin, if you don't mind, I'll post a couple images I have of 399 and her cubs from my trip in 2007. I have them on my computer at home and will post them tonight.

Thanks Rohn, for letting me semi-hijack your thread. Here are some images of 399 and her yearling cubs from May 2007. NPN folks please don't crack on me for the hideous processing on these. I know, I know.

I was in the Tetons/Yellowstone for two weeks in June of this year and came across 399 a couple of times, in the Colter Bay area. On each occasion, two different park rangers confirmed it was 399....from a distance, with a scope, you could see scaring on her face from a run-in with another grizz a couple of years back. It was believed she had given birth to a couple of other cubs, only to be killed later on by this other grizz. It was also generally believed that 399 fought to keep them alive, but lost that battle.