Anyone who has ever had an itch in a spot they simply couldn’t reach will understand this bear’s struggle.
A brown bear at Alaska’s Katmai National Park was recently caught dealing with a particularly inconvenient itch — right on its backside — and the animal came up with a hilariously simple solution.
Instead of suffering in silence, the bear wandered over to a rock sticking out of the water and began rubbing its bum against it like a giant natural backscratcher.
The moment was captured on video by @heyfairlady, who joked, “Who knew watching a bear scratch its bum on a rock was all I was missing in life.”
The bear appeared completely unaware that anyone was watching as it happily rubbed back and forth against the rock. The music playing over the clip only makes the scene even funnier.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:
Viewers couldn’t get enough of the unexpected wildlife moment.
“Why are bears so cute if we cannot hug them??” commenter @Polly P wrote.
Unfortunately, another viewer managed to make the adorable video slightly less adorable by bringing up one unpleasant possibility.
“Ohh, there is a reason why he is doing that. Look up bear worms and you will never see this video the same way ever again LOL!” @SDGundam1904 commented.
For anyone tempted to take that advice, consider yourself warned.
The National Park Service says researchers have detected several kinds of parasites in Alaska brown bears, including hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms. Scientists have also found evidence of mites that can affect the animals’ skin, although no blood parasites were detected in the samples studied.
That doesn’t mean parasites had anything to do with this particular bear’s behavior, however.
There’s also a much simpler explanation: the bear had an itch in an incredibly awkward place and discovered that a nearby rock worked perfectly.
Considering how adorable the video is, we’re sticking with that explanation.