When you find a good fishing hole, you have to do everything you can to make sure no one else finds it.
Evidently, that rings true with bears just as it does humans. This video out of Lake Clark National Park shows that brown bears in the northernmost state of America are very territorial… especially when it comes to a good fishing spot. Chances are good that salmon and other types of fish are plentiful in this spot of the national park.
That’s why these two bears were doing the ol’ “this river ain’t big enough for the two of us” spar.
Though bears will eat just about anything, they might not have a snack that they favor more than salmon. Especially these coastal browns who have all you can eat buffets in Alaska. The large animals will often spend hours fishing, and are normally successful in their endeavors. Some bruins have been known to catch and eat over 30 salmon in one day.
A bear’s speed and razor-sharp talons make them perfect anglers, and it also makes them the perfect creature to defend their favorite fishing spot. That’s exactly what happened in this footage, which was taken by a tour guide that looked to have a boat full of people just 40 or 50 yards or so away from where the bear brawl occurred.
Talk about getting your money’s worth.
There’s a lot that stands out in this video. From the raw power you can see in both bears as they stand on their hind legs, to the guttural growls that they let out as they tried to stake claim to the area (and the duck in the background… more on that in a bit). If you’ve never heard the roar of a bear before, prepare yourself, because it’s a sound that can quickly stir up some ancestral fear within.
The bears never “threw paws” at one another. The entirety of the battle was conducted through intimidation and growling… and it was still awesome. I’m glad that I’m watching this encounter through video, rather than being a couple dozen yards away like the tour guide who captured the footage. And it does look like one of the bears “won” the yell off that they had over the fishing spot.
Check it out:
“A tour guide in Alaska was startled when two bears began fighting over a prime fishing spot at Lake Clark National Park.”
Wouldn’t want to get in between those two bears and their fishing hole… which brings us to that duck I mentioned earlier.
You might have to watch the video again, because it is sort of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of thing. While these brown bears stood on their hind legs and roared, a duck just casually swam right by them, only a couple of feet away. If you are to dive into the comments of this post, there are a couple of observations shared about the two bears.
But most of them have to do with the brave duck that ended up having a front row seat to the ferocious battle, and didn’t give a quack about its own safety:
“The duck casually swimming by.”
“I love the duck.”
“That duck was like, ‘Whatever.'”
“That duck in the back swimming is unfazed.”
“The duck came, saw, and conquered.”
