Alaskan Wildlife Guide Records the 'Longest, Most Intense' Grizzly Bear Fight He's Ever Witnessed
Alaskan wildlife biologist and wilderness guide Brad Josephs uploaded a stunning video to his YouTube channel this week of two male grizzly bears fighting for dominance on the border of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
And while fights between grizzlies tend to be quick and brutal, the footage tops out at nearly nine minutes.
Even after 25 years of guiding on the Alaska peninsula, Josephs, who specializes in bear biology and ecology of the north, says the fight was the "longest, most intense bear interaction" he had ever witnessed. The two males—one larger, older bear versus one younger and smaller—were competing for breeding season dominance in a sedge meadow when he happened upon them.
Male grizzlies weigh an average of 400 to 700 pounds, and suffice it to say, these two bad boys were definitely on the larger side.
"This is 10 times longer than the longest fight I've ever seen. And more intense," Jospehs remarked around the 6:15 mark. "Just destroying each other."
"That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in Mother Nature," he commented soon after.
"In my 25 years guiding brown bear photography and film crew expeditions, this was by far the longest duration and greatest intensity of any bear fight I have ever seen," Josephs later reiterated to Outside. "It just kept going and going. I was astounded by the determination and stamina of both bears as they battled for mating season dominance rights."
Without spoiling the winner, eventually, one bear backed off and bowed his head in submission, indicating that the fight was over. "He's got his head down, he's basically saying, 'I'm sorry, I lost,'" Josephs explained. "And the winner walks away."
Of the 60,000 wild grizzly bears located throughout North America, approximately 30,000 are found in Alaska, the highest population of any state or province.
