Pawprints in the sand reveal a bear's ‘midnight stroll' on a Malibu beach

Finding some footprints in damp sand?

You'll see them along the beach on any day of the year, along with the distinctive tracks left by other ocean-loving critters, including seabirds, crustaceans, and those spawning superstars of springtime, the grunion. (We'll call the grunion's sand signature more of a "wriggle print," if we might.)

But coming across the pawprint of a furry, lumbering, midnight visitor of the ursine variety?

We're more likely to bare our shoulders at the beach than find evidence that bears have been there. (Thanks for bearing with us through that convoluted comparison.)

Like us, though, bears are drawn to the waves, or so some telling tracks left near Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu reveal.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area shared a picture of pawprints on its social media pages on June 7, 2023.

"Have you ever seen a black bear take a midnight stroll along the beach? We haven't either but we know that it happened recently and at least twice in Malibu, thanks to paw print and GPS tracking evidence," read the post.

Bears are so often depicted in forest-y or chaparral-filled settings, the mountains and hills where they're known to regularly roam, that visualizing a large-paw'd animal at the ocean's edge feels almost too fanciful to ponder.

But fanciful, it is not, as this intriguing image shows us.

Eager to know more about BB-12, the "erstwhile" black bear of the Santa Monica Mountains?

Following the ever-lively feed of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a good place to start.

And, as always, the rangers regularly provide the mountain lion content so many of us so fervently crave, including the recent discovery of three adorable cubs in the Simi Hills.