Nerves of steel. That gave me the chills just watching it.
It would be hard to imagine that situation without experiencing it. A massive killer coming in at high speed towards you is not something most people want to experience.
Grizzly bears in Alaska are some of the biggest, reaching weights over 1,000 pounds. Known simply as brown bears on the coast, these beasts are known to rule the land with an iron fist, eating, fighting and ripping their way through anything out there that gets in the way of them eating.
These bears require a lot of food to survive in the rough country, and the streams and rivers provide a great source of salmon for them. Bears will flock from miles away to catch some salmon when the runs are on.
Being an Alaskan fisherman, you’re sure to see some bears out there on the water. They might even be a good sign that you’re in a good fishing spot. But grizzlies are just like people, and don’t want to share their favorite holes either.
This grizzly is seen barreling in at a whole bank lined with hikers (perhaps fisherman?), but as the grizzly keeps coming in, no one moves at all. The bear just keeps on going by as it is unsure what to do with this reaction.
Welcome to Alaska…
Alaskan Brown Bears Go Head To Head At Brooks Falls
Big boys.
Alaskan brown bears are among the largest bears in the world, with adult males weighing in anywhere between 800 to 1,500 pounds and standing at about 8 to 10 feet tall on their hind legs. Females are generally much smaller, weighing only around 400 to 800 pounds.
These bears are omnivorous, so while they primarily feed on plant matter, such as berries, grasses, and roots, they are also opportunistic predators that will hunt.
And these bears here at Katmai National Park love to dig their claws into some fish.
Located at the northern end of the Alaska Peninsula, the park covers an area of approximately 4.1 million acres. It is particularly renowned for its population of brown bears, which gather along the Brooks River in the summer to catch salmon. Visitors have the opportunity to observe the bears up close in their natural habitat.
Skilled fishermen, they stand in rivers and catch fish by snagging them out of the air with their jaws.
And while an abundance of salmon provides for a relatively safe environment for viewing (bears will full bellies and plenty of fish don’t usually pose a threat to humans), however that’s not to say that it can’t get a little competitive at the fishing hole.
Exhibit A:
These big males were recently filmed throwing paws at Brooks Falls, and while it was over pretty quick, it sure was intense.
Check it out:
2 Alaskan Brown Bears Get Into Marathon Brawl At Lake Clark National Park
Whenever we’re out in nature, we tend to only get to observe the beauty of it.
As awesome as that is, there’s always a much darker, more violent side to it that we rarely get to witness, but it’s the reality of it.
Hunting and fighting is a major aspect of survival for wildlife, and it truly is survival of the fittest. So, that’s why it’s always great to have people who witness moments like these, and capture the harsh reality of it all.
During mating season, we tend to see males get into brutal fights with each other, that at times can be a battle to the death, in an effort to assert dominance and prove that they’re a worthy mate to breed with.
We tend to see this most often with male bears.
With that being said, a wildlife tour guide at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in southwest Alaska was able to capture one of these wild scenes all on video, while guiding a group in the park recently.
In this video, you can see two Alaskan brown bears strutting around each other.
Next thing you know, they get into a brutal fight with one another. They go on for several minutes, until you see the one bear that appears to be much older than the other pin the other to the ground, continuing to bite and claw.
However, the younger bear doesn’t give up that easily, and continues to fight, but ultimately the older bear appears to have the upper hand.
Finally, they ease off each other.
The guide wrote in the caption:
“This is the longest, most intense bear interaction I have ever witnessed in my 25 years of guiding on the Alaska peninsula.”
Check it out:
Brown Bears Battle Over Whale Carcass
I recently got back from the lovely state of Montana, and while I didn’t run into any bears while I was there (probably a good thing), you get a first hand account of the vast, incredible, and humbling beauty this country has to offer.
And while Montana is amazing, it gets no more vast, incredible and humbling than… Alaska.
In this incredible footage at the Katmai Coast of Southern Alaska, we get to watch as two coastal brown bears engage in a vicious fight over a beached whale carcass.
According to Expeditions Alaska, two big male brown bears were laying claim to this beached whale carcass when some other bears came walking up to chow down.
That’s when all hell broke loose:
“These two large male brown bears had been strutting and posturing and peeing and rubbing, jaw clacking, and carrying on, generally chest-pounding, trying their best to intimidate one another, for near 20 minutes.
During this time, a few other smaller bears had come in and started feeding on the carcass, including this sow and her single yearling cub. One of the males came down and began to feed as well, but didn’t seem unduly concerned about the sow/cub on the other side of the whale carcass.”
But then, the female gets attacked:
“Finally, the second male came down, with that classic side-stepping strutting gait, and headed straight for the female. Her cub bails, and rather than follow suit, she gets defensive.
The power is pretty impressive, watch how far backward she goes each time. And incredibly deft footwork for her… if she didn’t maintain her balance, she’d have been in bigger trouble.”
But then, the other male comes to her rescue and it’s on.
The second male surprises the original attacker, but them seem to be well-matched for each other in size and power. They grapple like it’s a UFC fight, while the sow and her cub manages to get away.
Eventually, they’ve had enough and they separate, both looking pretty gassed from the tussle.
And we have a front row seat.
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