Daily Dose of Weird: Bear Saves Hiker from Mountain Lion Attack [VIDEO]

This story is plenty weird, but also contains healthy levels of awesome.  It should also serve as a cautionary tale about always watching your back when you're in the wilderness.

Robert Biggs, 69, was hiking in northern California Monday when he stopped to admire a family of black bears from about 40 feet away.  He had no idea that while he was watching the bears, something else was watching him.

According to the Huffington Post, when Biggs turned to walk away from the bears, a mountain lion lunged at him and latched onto his backpack.  Biggs said he struck it in the head with his rock pick; but even though the big cat screamed, it didn't let go.  Then things really got interesting.

A black blur came from Biggs' left.  It was the mother bear!

Biggs said that the bear ripped the cat's grip from his backpack, and the two titans clashed for another 15 seconds. The bear won the battle, probably because it "outweighed the cat 400 pounds to 100 pounds." The cat ran away, and the bear went back down on all fours, humbly making eye contact with Biggs before regrouping with her young.

Biggs said he has no doubt the bear was protecting him, and not just her young.

"I'm 100-percent sure it did want to save my life," he said. "We made eye contact. I'd seen the bears before and I know she knew who I was."

[via HuffPost Weird News.]

This is incredible.  I doubt anything like this will ever happen again!  Here's a computer animation of how it all went down.

Have you ever had a close encounter with wild animals?  Leave a comment below, and then...

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