Grizzly 399, famous Yellowstone bear, died in a car accident in Wyoming

The bear known as Grizzly 399, which PBS called the “world's most famous grizzly,” was killed Tuesday night after being hit by a car in Wyoming, officials said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the bear was identified by her microchip after she was struck on a highway in the Snake River Canyon near Jackson, Wyoming. A cub was with her at the time of the accident, but police said there was no evidence the cub was involved in the accident.

Grizzly 399 was an iconic resident of Grand Teton National Park, which is located near Yellowstone National Park. Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins described them as one of the animals that make the national park's ecosystem “so extraordinary.”

“Grizzly bear 399 was perhaps the most prominent ambassador of this species,” Jenkins said. “She inspired countless visitors to support conservation around the world and we will miss her.”

The 28-year-old grizzly was one of the most photographed bears in the park and is the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone park system. She gave birth to a total of 18 young in her lifetime, although only eight survived to adulthood.

PBS dedicated an episode of its “Nature” series to Grizzly 399 in May, titled “Grizzly 399: Queen of the Tetons.” Trevor Bloom, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington, noted in the episode that she was seen raising four cubs, which he said was “rare” for bears.

“It’s like a person having quadruplets,” Bloom said.

American wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen first saw Grizzly 399 in May 2006, an exciting but fleeting moment for the photographer. He was one of the first to photograph the bear and her cubs, which sparked years of documenting the grizzly bear through the lens.

He told Stanford University in 2021 that Grizzly 399 had become the “poster child” of bear conservation. Grizzly bears are a protected class as a threatened species but are not considered endangered.

Grizzly bears are a subspecies of brown bears and thrived in North America before the early 19th century, but their populations were threatened by European colonizers who considered them a danger. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the species had declined to 2 percent of its population by the 1930s, and by 1975 there were only over 800 bears left in the contiguous 48 states.

Conservation measures have been put in place to support the bear population's increase, and there are now an estimated 1,923 in the contiguous U.S., the service said.