Putting the Bite On!

Putting the Bite On!

I really wanted the title of this image to be "Putting the Bite On the Competition", but between the title length and a possible debate over whether these two siblings are actually competing for any resources I thought it better to go the shorter route...

The encounter where I captured this image was one of those "Man...I'll remember that forever" situations. From beginning to end this sparring event (and a few chases that occurred mid-way through!) lasted under 5 minutes, but WHAT ACTION! These two grizzlies are siblings - the smaller bear on the right is a female and the one on the left is a male. They're 5 years old and split apart after being weaned in their 4th spring. It seems whenever they re-unite they revert back to being playful littermates without missing even a beat. Seconds before I shot this image the male had completely dunked the female's head (and he seemed to hold her under a little longer than needed) and here she's roaring back with vengeance. What a cool thing to see and photograph.

Subject: Sub-adult Grizzly (Ursus arctos) sibs rough-housing
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern BC coast, Canada
Camera: Nikon D750
Lens: Sigma Sport 150-600mm @ 185mm. Hand-held from Zodiac boat. Optical stabilization on and in "OS1" mode.
Exposure: 1/1600s @ f8; ISO 2200. -0.3 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Almost full frame (less than 5% crop for compositional purposes)

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 (including vocalizations)