Tag: Brown bear

Famous brown bear ‘Chunk’ given the slip during courtship attempt

Footage shows the female bear taking an extreme measure to avoid contact with the larger bear at Brooks Falls in Alaska.

A bear-cam in Alaska’s Katmai National Park on Monday captured an amusing scene involving a brown bear named Chunk putting the moves on a female bear.

But it turned out that the female bear, apparently not wanting anything to do with Chunk, had the slickest move.

Stated Explore.org, which shared the accompanying footage: “When you’d rather fall down a waterfall than be courted by Chunk.”

The footage showing the bear giving Chunk the slip – intentionally or otherwise – has garnered several responses pertaining to Chunk.

“Chunk is kind of like Leisure Suit Larry – the ladies want no part of him,” reads a top comment on Explore’s Instagram post.

A comment on Twitter: “Poor Chunk, he’s truly lovable really.”

The footage was captured at Brooks Falls, where the most dominant bears in Katmai National Park are foraging on salmon and competing for prime fishing spots.

Chunk, a large adult with numerous facial scars, is a fixture at Brooks Falls and a perennial Fat Bear Week candidate.

Fat Bear Week, conducted annually each October, is a bracket-style, fan-driven competition that celebrates the bears’ success in fattening up sufficiently to survive during hibernation.

Chunk, however, has never been named Fat Bear Week Champion.

Some might say it’s not easy being Chunk.

Woman rolls down window for closeup photo of bear, gets bitten

The victim’s friend says the “bear was hungry, and thought my friend was going to be lunch.” The victim says her jacket probably saved her life.

A 72-year-old Scottish woman touring in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania on Monday suffered non-life-threatening injuries to her arm while attempting to get a closeup photo of a brown bear.

Moira Gallacher was traveling with her friend Charmian Widdowson when they spotted two brown bears alongside the road. They stopped, and the bears approached the vehicle.

“We were in the car and we were going to take a picture,” Gallacher told Observator News via the Scottish Daily Express. “And the bear came up to the window.”

The bear raised up on its hind legs, leaned into the car and bit down on Gallacher’s arm through the window she had opened to get the photo; Widdowson immediately stepped on the gas and fled the scene, making way to a nearby hospital, according to the Daily Mail.

Gallacher told the Scottish Daily Express that the Marks and Spencer jacket she was wearing probably saved her life.

“The mummy bear was hungry, and thought my friend was going to be lunch,” Widdowson told the Scottish Daily Express. “She was wearing a thick Marks and Spencer jacket and the poor bear got more jacket than arm.”

Gallacher, who lost her phone in the encounter, told STV news, “I’m a very lucky woman.”

The extent of her injuries was not reported, only that her arm is “sore.” She was expected to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.

More from the Scottish Daily Express:

Romania is home to Europe’s largest population of European brown bears. They are the largest terrestrial carnivores in Central Europe, reaching towering sizes of just over 7ft (2.2m) and weighing up to 350kg.

They are incredibly fast and can run at speeds of 30mph as well as being excellent climbers. Romania is home to an estimated 8,000 brown bears which is Europe’s largest population in the wild. Most reside in the Carpathian Mountains and over the past seven years, 14 people have been killed and more than 150 attacked by the animals.

Bear with head stuck in plastic drum quickly rescued in Spain

A brown bear that was found wandering through a Spanish town with its head stuck in a plastic drum has been rescued.

A brown bear that was found wandering through a Spanish town with its head stuck in a plastic drum has been rescued.

The bear was first spotted on the morning of Sept. 13 by residents of Anllares del Sil in León. Its entire head was inside the empty corn dispenser, rendering the bruin unable to see or feed.

A rescue effort coordinated by government biologists involved sedating the bear so the life-threatening device could be removed. The successful operation lasted barely more than an hour.

According to a news release issued by the Junta de Castilla y León, the bear was determined to be healthy. It’s now fitted with a GPS collar so biologists can track its movements.

The accompanying images are courtesy of the Teddy Bear Foundation.

Huge relief as beloved bear Otis eats 100 lbs of salmon in 3 days

Otis the beloved Brooks River brown bear has finally started to put on weight, much to the relief of fans. His latest spree: 100 salmon in 3 days.

The most famous brown bear on Alaska’s Brooks River has many concerned because he’s old and has appeared gaunt and arthritic since his tardy emergence from hibernation.

But on Tuesday the folks at Explore.org, which maintains live-feed cameras on the Brooks River, happily reported that the bear, named Otis, “has eaten over 100 [pounds] of salmon in last 36 hours. He has been fishing nonstop!”

It’s wonderful news for his followers, of course, but also for a bear that is 27 years old (the upper end of a brown bear’s life cycle) and must compete with younger, more vigorous bears that battle for prime fishing spots on the river.

“Now I can tell he is better,” one follower commented. “The ribs and bones that were sticking out are smoothing out…. Keep on dear OTIS.”

Another comment: “He needs all the calories he can get. He has to catch up to 747 and the other big boys.”

That’s a reference to a true giant cataloged as Bear 747, aka Bear Force One.

Otis and 747 are perennial finalists in Fat Bear Week, a fan-driven competition held each fall as a celebration of the bears’ success after another feeding season.

But only Otis, a four-time Fat Bear Week champion, is referred to as the king, or King Otis.

To put Otis’ 36-hour feeding spree into perspective, the largest and most dominant bears on the river might consume as many as 100 pounds of salmon per day.

Dogs battle brown bear in ‘intense’ encounter caught on video

The owner of an Alaska charter-fishing company has captured graphic footage showing four dogs fighting a brown bear outside a residence.

The owner of an Alaska charter-fishing company has captured graphic footage showing four dogs fighting a brown bear outside a residence.

“Intense moment from a couple weeks back,” Kenai River and Company stated Sunday via Instagram. “No dogs or bears were harmed in the making of this video.”

Mike Evans, who owns the company, told FTW Outdoors that the bear was a repeat visitor and that on this day it was attempting to crash a barbecue.

“The bear wanted to join us, it seems,” Evans said, adding that the dogs are owned by trainer Jen Harpe.

In the footage, people are heard trying to call the dogs back from their attempts to ward off the bear.

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Beneath a post by Bestial Nature, followers expressed sympathy for the dogs and bear.

“End of the day, private property or not, a bear is doing what bears do,” one follower wrote. “They were there long before humans.”

Others noted that the dogs were fortunate to have emerged without serious injuries inflicted by the much larger bear.

Bestial Nature’s Instagram description reads, in part:

“I don’t think there’s a dog lover in the world that can watch this video and not feel a sinking feeling of dread deep in their gut, knowing that if that bear gets a good bite or swipe in, that it will definitely be over.”

Watch bear cub’s ‘brilliant recovery’ after waterfall tumble

A brown bear cub fishing next to mom atop a waterfall in Alaska was caught on video slipping into the turbulence below and briefly disappearing.

A brown bear cub fishing next to mom atop a waterfall in Alaska was caught on video slipping into the turbulence below and disappearing underwater.

“Who else held their breath watching this?” Explore.org, which operates live bear cameras on the Brooks River,” asked followers via Twitter. Explore describe the cub’s recovery as “brilliant.”

The footage posted below shows the cub vanishing into swirling whitewater after losing its footing atop the falls. Mom looks concerned as her cub struggles and is approached by another large bear.

But as the cub frantically swims toward shallow water near the bank, mom arrives to greet and check on her offspring.

It was a valuable lesson for the cub, who is learning how to catch sockeye salmon migrating up the Brooks River. The mom, Bear 910, is among the many brown bears that appear frequently on Explore’s popular live camera feeds.

Watch: Fishing bear positions itself perfectly for ‘the catch’

Footage has surfaced showing a brown bear so perfectly positioned atop Brooks Falls that a salmon leaps directly into its mouth.

Brown bears at Brooks Falls in Alaska apparently have turned salmon fishing into an art form.

The accompanying slow-motion footage, captured by Michael Gallo, shows a bear so perfectly positioned that a salmon attempting to clear the falls leaps directly into its mouth.

Kodiak Island Expeditions, which was leading a tour of the falls on Saturday, described the event, simply, as “The catch.”

Brown bears on the Brooks River compete for the best fishing spots and the most dominant bears can consume more than 120 pounds of salmon per day.

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The public can observe the bears and their antics via live cameras operated by Explore.org and the National Park Service. The Brooks River is in Katmai National Park.

Watch: Bear slips down waterfall, salmon leaps over bear

Footage from Brooks Falls in Alaska shows a brown bear slipping down a waterfall and a salmon jumping over the bear’s head.

Last week we shared footage of a brown bear bellyflopping after leaping from a waterfall at Brooks Falls in Alaska.

This week a different bear lost its footing at the same location, in Katmai National Park, while trying to intercept sockeye salmon as they forged upriver toward spawning grounds.

As the bear slid down the waterfall, a salmon leaped over its head. The bear would be compelled to reposition itself and try again.

 

Both clips were tweeted by Explore.org, which operates live nature cameras on the Brooks River, where brown bears gorge on salmon and compete for prime fishing spots.

The accompanying footage shows that no matter where a bear might position itself, catching salmon can be difficult.

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However, some bears are prolific catchers and the more dominant bears may consume more than 30 salmon per day.

Considering that one sockeye salmon packs 4,500 calories, it’s no wonder that the largest brown bears in Katmai National Park will weigh upwards of 1,000 pounds come hibernation season.

“Survival depends on eating a year’s worth of food in six months,” the park states on its website.

BearCam viewers can watch the animals bulk up as the feeding season progresses. In the fall, the public can vote during Fat Bear Week, a March Madness-style competition that serves as “an annual celebration of [feeding] success.”

Last year’s winner was an older bear named Otis, a four-time Fat Bear Week champion.

Whoa! Fat Bear Week appears to already have a frontrunner

Fat Bear Week 2022 appears to already have a frontrunner in Bear 747, a.k.a. Bear Force One.

Let the Fat Bear Week hype begin….

Brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park have emerged from hibernation and will spend the summer fattening up on salmon along the Brooks River.

It’s a phenomenon enjoyed by millions, thanks to a live camera run by Explore.org, and it culminates each fall with a fan-friendly competition known as Fat Bear Week.

Typically, when bears first appear before the camera, they show signs of months spent sleeping in dens. They can lose 33% of their body weight during hibernation and need to start packing calories.

But when Bear 747, also known as Bear Force One, recently appeared looking surprisingly rotund, Explore.org tweeted a short video beneath the description: “Did 747 ‘BEARFORCE ONE’ even hibernate? What a beauty!”

Bear 747 is the 2020 champion of Fat Bear Week, but last year finished runner-up to four-time winner Otis.

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Being among the fattest bears in Katmai National Park & Preserve means being among the healthiest, given the harsh winters the animals must endure in their dens. (The bears must consume a year’s worth of food in six months.)

The park bills Fat Bear Week, a March Madness-style event that begins in late September, as “an annual celebration of success” but adds that all Brooks River bears are winners.

Last year a record 793,000 votes were cast during the seven-day competition.

–Image courtesy of Explore.org

Watch: Bear vanishes in snow as if by magic

A brown bear at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center inspired laughter and awe recently when the bruin vanished in the snow as if by magic.

A brown bear at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center inspired laughter and awe recently when the bruin vanished in the snow as if by magic.

The accompanying footage, captured by Heidi Hansen and shared by the AWCC, shows a bear named Joe Boxer, or JB, positioning himself above his den, which is not visible, and dropping out of sight to the amusement of visitors.

The AWCC described the scene on Facebook as a “now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t” moment, while a comment reads, “He just did a Houdini.”

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Another follower chimed in: “The case of the disappearing bear!”

JB and Patron were brought to the facility as rescue cubs in 2004 after their mother was killed by a Willow resident who feared for the safety of his dog. According to the AWCC, the man was not aware that the sow had cubs when he shot the bear, which had just killed a moose in his yard.

FTW Outdoors featured the bear siblings in September 2021, seemingly practicing the adorable art of synchronized napping.