While camera trapping this summer for wolverines I got an awesome series of photos of black bears communicating with each other through scent marking on a tree in the North Cascades of Washington (Nlaka'pamux First Nation Traditional Territory).
A black bear smells a marking tree to learn about other bears that have visited the tree.
When bears mark trees they focus on two heights on tree, about bum height (for the bears) and should height for a standing bear. Here you can see the same bear inspecting the scent left behind by a previous bear.
And here’s the bear the first one was smelling rubbing its head against the tree. This black bear has a much lighter brown coat of fur.
The same brown colored black bear rubbing its shoulders and back on the tree.
