Sibling Rivalry?

Sibling Rivalry?

Just back from leading back-to-back photo tours in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly sanctuary. So between my images and those of several of my clients I suspect you'll be seeing a higher ratio of North America (to Africa) wildlife shots for awhile! 

I've been traveling into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary every spring for almost a decade now, and I'm still seeing new things each year. If I had to place a title on this year's adventure I'd have to call it "The Year of Interactions" - there was simply no end to the number of bear-bear interactions going on during our time in the Khutzeymateen. Simply put, we have NEVER seen the number of bear interactions as we saw in 2015. Male-male interactions (spanning the spectrum from mild chases to an out-and-out battle royale), copious male-female interactions (including the type that result in more bears being produced), and even aggressive female-female conflicts and chases.

But my favorite bear-bear interaction for 2015 was the one shown above. The "combatants" (who were courteous enough to battle in shallow water in near perfect light!) here are actually siblings - and they're just past the time when they're referred to as cubs (these bears were weaned in the spring of 2014 - which was their 4th spring...so at the time of this image capture the bears are in their 5th spring and thus just over 4 years old). The male sibling is the one facing us, and he's now beginning to show adult features, including a widening of his forehead and some of the characteristic "balding" pattern of many of the Khutzeymateen male bears (possibly one of the reasons why I like them so much!). While only four years old, this is no small bear - he already stands about 2 meters (6') tall when on his hind legs. His sister has her back to us and she's now noticeably smaller than her twin brother. But man...can she ever throw a roundhouse slap! And, despite being dunked several times during the play fight (including seconds before I shot this image) she never backed away or let her bro' think he was winning. No one watching this playful battle could doubt that the motivating force prompting it was just plain and simple fun! And it's unlikely that seeing an encounter like this first-hand wouldn't leave even the most impartial and "objective" observer in absolute wonder about the mental and emotional complexity of these magnificent animals.

Subject: Young Male and Female Grizzlies (Ursus arctos) sparring in shallow water
Location: Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary, northern BC Coast, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4s
Lens: Nikkor 400mm f2.8E VR - hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Sport" mode. Group Area AF.
Exposure: 1/1250s @ f7.1; ISO 1000. -0.33 stop compensation compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Minor - this is about 90% of full-framed image

A lot more info about this shot - including post-processing information 2400 pixel version of the shot - can be found here on my website...

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

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version 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 (including vocalizations)