VIDEO: Laughs, Screams, as Bear Stands Up and Peers Into Car at Yellowstone

There's something very satisfying about the mixture of excitement, laughter, and concern that erupts in this very short video as a large bear stands up and peers into the windows of a car at Yellowstone National Park.

The bear is maybe 12 inches from the woman in the passenger seat, who scrambles to aim her camera at it.   You can even hear the clicks of the bear's claws on the paint (in fact, that's the first thing that occurred to us: is insurance going to pay for the scratches?) as the bear bobs its head to try to get a better view of the inside of the car.  

It's not such a different image from those taken even into the 1970s: tourists opening the windows of their cars to feed morsels of their sandwiches, chips, or whatever else to the bears.  But with the park's later policies, feeding the bears is strictly forbidden (and for good reason - injuries related to bears in the park were endemic at that time).  

So really, it's the best of both worlds.  The couple in the video gets to have their close encounter with wildlife, the bear gets to stay wild.  You get to watch the video and laugh at their reaction.  Everyone wins!

See the whole video below!