Brown Bear and Salmon
Alaska, USA
Each year during the summer, in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, Sockeye salmon (also known as reds) return from the northern Pacific Ocean where they have spent the last two or three years. They travel up into the freshwater rivers and streams, attempting to return to the headwaters of their birth. The collective goal is to fertilize and deposit the eggs that will produce the next generation of Sockeye.
The journey is arduous, as the salmon must overcome many obstacles. They must adapt to the freshwater environment, navigate through natural impediments such as waterfalls, and avoid predators such as the many brown bears that congregate along their way. Salmon are innately determined, and relentless in their attempts to procreate.
This brown bear occupies a prime fishing spot at the top of Brooks Falls. Salmon swimming upstream jump the waterfall, some right into the bears' paws. Another did not succeed in getting over the falls, but survived to try again.
Photo © copyright by Dr. Edward Mikol.
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