Dramatic footage shows a boy walking calmly down a mountain, followed by a brown bear, while his father calmly talks him to his safety.
Alessandro, 12, was hiking with his family in Trentino in northern Italy when they noticed the bear, which rose on to its hind legs at several points.
The Marsican brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos, formerly Ursus arctos marsicanus), also known as the “Apennine brown bear”, and orso bruno marsicano in Italian, is a critically endangered population of the Eurasian brown bear, with a range restricted to the Abruzzo National Park, and the surrounding region in Italy. The Marsican brown bear is very similar to a regular brown bear with slight differences in its appearance and hibernation techniques.
Trentino, officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country’s far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region under the constitution. The province is divided into 177 comuni (municipalities). Its capital is the city of Trento. The province covers an area of more than 6,000 km2 (2,300 sq mi), with a total population of about 540,000. Trentino is renowned for its mountains, such as the Dolomites, which are part of the Alps.
