As a spring snowstorm barreled into Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on May 16, three figures ambled down the road, the mighty Teton mountains towering behind them.

Now 21 years old—ancient in bear years and well beyond the age when most female bruins typically breed—399 had two bouncy cubs in tow.

In 2016, 399’s white-faced cub Snowy had been killed by a car in the same area, the Pilgrim Creek drainage. Her fans had speculated for months whether the mama bear was still alive, but few expected her to have another baby—much less twins.

When wildlife photographer Thomas Mangelsen, who has spent a decade documenting 399, saw a video of the family, he choked up.

“I had a hunch she would show up