“They are clever yet cartoonish, their eagerness a liability. Searles once had to tackle a cub to remove a Costco snack jar stuck on the young bear’s head … ‘A grizzly bear is an apex predator; he will eat the tire off your truck,’ Searles says. ‘All a black bear wants to do is mow your lawn.'” LA Times: It’s words, not bullets, for the ‘bear whisperer’ of the Eastern Sierra. (Oddly, he doesn’t whisper at bears. He yells at them. More odd? They listen.)

+ Wildlife photos: Squabbling mice top ‘people’s poll’ award.