A mother bear guards and cautions her three cubs as a larger bear stands near them in the river in Alaska in the summer in katmai national park

Careful Mother

Alaska, USA

Millions of sockeye salmon return from the Pacific Ocean to the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska every summer. Brown bears begin to congregate as soon as the salmon arrive. As the salmon head upstream to spawn, bears follow along, eating as many as they can.

But the bears must be wary and follow the rules of congregating. The larger bears generally get the best fishing spots. Bears size each other up and tussles frequently break out. Moms must protect their cubs, while teaching them to fish. Most avoid direct interactions with others, but sometimes lessons are learned the hard way. Here, a mother wisely avoids a confrontation with a larger bear.

Photo © copyright by Dr. Edward Mikol.

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