The rugged brown bears () of Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska may be well-positioned at the top of the food chain, but that doesn’t mean the smaller animals don’t pose any risks. Size doesn’t really mean much in the face of a porcupine’s 30,000 sharp quills.
Cub 901jr’s mother is a medium-sized bear named 901. She has blond-rimmed, triangular ears, and her fur is typically golden brown in early summer and turns to a more grizzled brown by late summer. She was spotted in June with two spring cubs, but one of her cubs has since died.
So far this season,mother bears have killed two cubsin separate incidents only a few days apart-and on camera. While there is no one answer as towhy mother bears are killing cubs, some experts suspect bear adoption, food scarcity, and fights for dominance all play a role.
The along the Brooks River and at Brook Falls show the park’sfamous brown bearsas they feast on salmon to bulk up for the long winter ahead. Every year in late June, brown bearsreturn to Brooks Falls for the salmon migration. By late summer, the nutritious fish will spawn and then begin to die. The bears will then move to the lower Brooks River in September and October to eat the dead and dying salmon near the river’s mouth. An adult male bear can go fromroughly 700 pounds when the season begins to over 1,200 pounds by the fall.
After spending the summer putting on the pounds, Katmai hosts theannual Fat Bear Week tournament. The public can vote online to crown Katmai’s fattest bear of the year. Bear 901 reached thefinal roundof last year’s fierce competition.
Kaynak: Popular Science
