Two brown bears with three cubs each documented in unprecedented Pyrenees sightings

The team from nature association Depana, in collaboration with the local Val d'Aran government, have documented two bears with three cubs each in the rural mountainous region.

The sightings are unprecedented for the area, never having been documented before in the Pyrenees.

During the months of May and June, images were recorded showing the daily life of two family groups during one of the most sensitive stages of their life cycle.

The recordings that the organization has now made public show the animals' feeding habits, interactions between the cubs and the mother, behavior towards other species, and different moments of daily activity.

These observations are the result of monitoring and surveillance tasks coordinated by Marc Alonso, a Depana expert in the conservation of the brown bear in the Pyrenees.

Two months of monitoring

The teams managed to monitor one of the mother bears for 28 consecutive days.

At the beginning of June, this family lost one of the three cubs, the smallest of the litter, for reasons that have not been determined. Experts think it could either be due to a process of natural selection (illness or accident) or a possible episode of infanticide by a male bear.

The second bear with three cubs was located on five occasions and, until the end of the monitoring period, the family group remained complete.

Overall, during the spring monitoring campaign, a total of twelve different specimens of brown bear were monitored in the Val d'Aran.

This work is part of a broader conservation, scientific monitoring, and awareness-raising program that aims to promote the coexistence between the brown bear and human activities in the area.

100+ bears in the Pyrenees

According to the latest data from the Brown Bear Transfrontier Monitoring Group (GSTOP), made public by the Catalan government last March, a total of 54 brown bears were identified in the Catalan Pyrenees in 2025, and 108 in the Pyrenees as a whole, the highest figure recorded to date.

These data confirm the positive trend of population recovery.

The brown bear is listed as an endangered species in the Pyrenees and is subject to priority protection according to European regulations.

Depana indicates that despite the recovery of the population, the species remains vulnerable and requires rigorous scientific monitoring, as well as the consolidation of measures that favor coexistence with livestock farming and other human activities.

The association also considers that this recovery also represents "an opportunity to promote a responsible ecotourism model that contributes to the sustainable development of the Pyrenean regions," always with the utmost respect for the animals, their habitat, and the local population.