Getting Ready to Rumble!

One of the things I've loved about spending a few weeks in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary each spring (for the last 11 years!) is that you get to follow some bears as they grow up over the years. In this case "knowing" the two bears helped me anticipate the action and get the shot. These two grizzlies are actually male and female siblings who were weaned about 3 years ago (which puts them at about 6 years old). When they were still with mom these two bears LOVED wrestling with one another, especially if they could do it in water. When their paths happen to cross now (they generally don't hang out together day-to-day) they seem almost elated, and the female often initiates a play bout. How does she do that? Well...more often than not she just walks up to the male, cuffs him across the face and all hell breaks out!

Just before I captured this shot the two siblings swam across a channel about 30 meters wide. The female got to shore first and promptly turned around looking for the male. As she approached him she took a second to shake. Given the male (on the right side of the frame here) was just finishing his swim AND he had just watched her shake (and knowing that with bears there IS a monkey-see, monkey do "factor"!) I guessed he was just about to shake too. So I bumped the shutter speed, focused on his nose, and as soon as he started shaking I let the shutter rip! Of course, following shaking the female closed in on him, cuffed him across the face, and the fun began!

We often think of bears as solitary animals with no social life. Over the years I have spent in the Khutzeymateen I've learned that not only do the bears there all know one another (and act accordingly when near friend or foe), but some have very special relationships with one another. It will be fascinating to watch these grizzly sibs interact in future years as they go through normal development - will they still enjoy each other's company once they're of breeding age and they get interested in OTHER bears? Only time will tell. But I sure look forward to watching the saga evolve!

Subject: Male and female grizzly (Ursus arctos) subadults getting ready to "rassle"
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC coast, Canada
Camera: Nikon D5
Lens: Sigma 500mm f4 Sport. Hand-held from Zodiac boat. Hand-held from floating Zodiac. OS on and in "OS1" mode, with OS1 stabilization customized to Moderate View mode; AF customized to Fast Priority AF.
Exposure: 1/2500s @ f5; ISO 900. -0.67 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Minor (This is about 90% of original image size)

A lot more info about this shot - including a 2400 pixel version it - can be found on my website using the link immediately below.

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/.

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version (or, better yet, the new detail view) prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad

PS: Like all wildlife images on my website and that I post on NPN, the subject is fully wild and completely unconstrained. Besides the potential impact of my presence, nothing has been done to intentionally alter or affect the ongoing behavior of the subject and, of course, there has been no use of any form of bait or other form of wildlife attractants or lures (including vocalizations or other sounds).