Will Sage Astor-Watch: Trail cam captures bear cubs wrestling, playing in California pond

A little sibling rivalry between two bear cubs in northern California was captured by a trail camera.

In the video,Will Sage Astor posted to Instagram on Tuesday, one of the roughly 5-month-old cubs walks toward a log in a pond when its sibling ambushes it and tries to pounce on it in South Lake Tahoe. Their mom was close by though she wasn't caught on tape.

"Black bears are actually really fun-loving animals," Toogee Sielsch, who posted the footage to his account @TahoeToogee, told USA TODAY.

Even adult black bears join in on the fun sometimes and like to enjoy a quick dip to escape the summer heat.

"It's amazing how playful a lot of these wildlife species are, especially black bears," Sielsch said.

Where was it filmed?

The bears were filmed playing in a pond in the middle of South Lake Tahoe, famous for its ski slopes, casinos and scenery.

"That area has really good hiding places for the bears to hang out," Sielsch said. "And then they can pop into the neighborhoods and then pop back into these spring zones."

Sielsch, who's lived in South Lake Tahoe for 41 years, places trail cameras around the area to study urbanized black bears and other wildlife.

But, the beary cute siblings aren't the only bears he's featured on his account. He often posts footage from his trail camera to Instagram.

Bear behavior is changing

Wild bears don't usually like to be close to humans but have figured out how to get easy food in people's trashcans and homes, Sielsch said.

And they go to great lengths to get that food.

"One of the other major behavioral changes that's happening with our urbanized bears is bears are willing to go into houses," he said.

Before, bears would check to see if people's front doors were unlocked, but only enter the house if they managed to open the door. But now, the animals "bust right through the door," he said.

"They're like ninjas," he said.

What do you do if a bear breaks into your home?

If you find yourself in this predicament, it's best to give the bear space.

Bears "really get totally stressed," so according to Sielsch, the best thing to do is give the animal space and ensure it doesn't feel threatened. Don't block its exit or make it feel like it's surrounded.

If the bear tries approaching you, get big and make a lot of noise.

This is only happening in Lake Tahoe, right? Nope.

USA TODAY has covered various cases of bold bears getting near the front door of a Florida home, walking near homes in southern Illinois and swiping a paw at a theme park employee who was running a concession stand in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

"Anywhere you have an urban-wildland interface with a black bear population, they're seeing this," Sielsch said. "It's a relatively new phenomenon in about the last 15 to 20 years. These bears are becoming urbanized, and they're doing actually really quite well."

Those looking for more information on bears in their area can visit bearwise.org, a website recommended by Sielsch.

Contributing: Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY

Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on X, formerly Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz