The Pole-Dancing Bear

Footage from the USGS’ Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project shows that some grizzlies know that trees make excellent back-scratchers. What they do with trees looks a lot like pole dancing, especially if you set it to the right music. You know, like the stripp — er, I mean exotic dancers — do. Or so I’ve heard.

Here’s the hip-hop version:

And here’s the big beat/’60s jazz-funk version (I rather like the tune):

The back-scratching reminds me of the song Bear Necessities from the film The Jungle Book, where Baloo explains his philosophy of life to Mowgli. It’s the spiritual ancestor of Hakuna Matata: