A Brown Bear Fishing for Salmon along a river in Katmai National Park, Alaska.
The Alaska Peninsula Brown Bear is a member of the grizzly bear family that lives in the coastal regions of southern Alaska.
Alaska Peninsula brown bears are a very large brown bear subspecies, usually ranging in weight from 800 to 1,200 pounds. They are found in high densities along the southern Alaskan coast due to the large amount of clams and sedge grass and the annual salmon run. This allows them to attain huge sizes, some of the biggest in the world.
They gather in large numbers at feeding sites in Katmai National Park.
Alaska Peninsula brown bears are the second largest type of brown bear in the world, only after the giant bears of Kodiak Island. They usually measure 8 feet in length, usually have a shoulder height of about 4-1/2 feet. The average weight for a coastal male is around 900 lbs. For a female, the average weight is approximately 500 lbs.
Although variable from blond to nearly black, grizzly bear fur is typically brown in color with white tips. A pronounced hump appears on their shoulders; the hump is a good way to distinguish a black bear from a grizzly bear, as black bears do not have this hump.
Brown bears on the Alaskan Peninsula usually feed on spawning salmon, and use many different ways to catch them. These include waiting at the bottom of the falls for the fish to jump, or standing at the top of the falls waiting to catch the fish in midair (sometimes in their mouths). Bears also have much experience at chasing fish around and pinning the slippery animals with their claws. After the salmon runs, berries and grass make the mainstay of the bears' diets, after which they put on sufficient fat reserves and go into hibernation.
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