It's fishin' season.
The ??? ?? ????brown bears of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve — the same bears of Fat Bear Week internet fame — are currently devouring the skin, flesh, and brains of 4,500-calorie sockeye salmon. The bounties of migrating fish attract an exceptional gathering of bears at Katmai's Brooks River, and the final week of July 2021 is burgeoning with activity. It's a superb opportunity to tune into the dynamic explore.org livestream, beamed from a remote part of the Alaskan Peninsula.
Bears young and old congregate at the river's waterfall, Brooks Falls, in July. It's an ideal place for bears to catch salmon, as the fish run into a natural "roadblock" that slows their migration. The energetic salmon must repeatedly try to leap over the waterfall. Meanwhile, the bears feast on crowds of fish.
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"Bear Insanity at Brooks Falls right now!!!" explore.org tweeted on Sunday night.
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Brown bears, except mothers with cubs, live mostly solitary lives, so the annual July congregations are exciting events. Spend some time bear watching, and you'll undoubtedly witness some of these behaviors :
Bear disagreements, and (more rarely) physical fights
Mothers fishing with cubs
A single dominant bear catching bounties of fish, perhaps over a dozen during the course of a few hours, beneath the waterfall (a prime fishing spot).
Bears catching fish in midair
Unique, and at times amusing, fishing strategies
Come August, many bears seek out other rivers with later salmon runs. But in September, brown bears return to Katmai's Brooks River in large numbers to feast on the remains of dead or dying salmon. By October, the bears will be fattened up, sometimes to ridiculous degrees, for their long, harsh winter hibernation.
Watch the magic.