Amazing Bear Fight Caught On Video
Tero Pylkkanen found that patience is a virtue after spending hours hunkered down in a hide in Kumho Finland. The photographer found he was able to capture some wonderful footage of brown bears brawling in the woods. He says he was with his family in the bear hide when two bears appeared that had been following one another for a couple of hours and decided to get right in to it in front of his hide. It was an hour before the first bear appeared in Finnish forest patch where the photographer and his family were camped out.
Apex predators
Brown bears are apex predators and start to appear in Kumho towards the beginning of April where they remain until October, following which they retreat to their dens for a period of hibernation during the cold winter months. Bears tend to brawl with one another during May and June when females are in oestrus and there is intense competition for the right to mate with them. An hour after the first bear appeared, a second one showed up and both began sizing one another up.
Hierarchical
Brown bears are not particularly territorial, but there is a hierarchy amongst them with mature males sitting at the top and females, subadults and cubs taking lower positions. Bears tend to fight when a dominant male feels it necessary to assert his authority or if a female feels her cubs are being threatened. Adult males can be especially aggressive and as a result smaller bears tend to avoid them. After the bears showed up, it took another couple of hours before the fight broke out.
Tense battle
The photographer and his family watched in amazement as the bears began their brawl beginning with a pre-fight growl that reverberated through the forest. The smaller bear attempted to shield itself behind a tree, however the dominant male was not content to allow that. It was not long before the bears were in a tangle with more than 1,000 kilograms of brawn tussling and turning in what appears to have been a very tense battle.
Unharmed
The fight lasted less than a couple of minutes with the winning bear striding off, most likely marking his territory as he proceeded and the defeated bear with bloody nose sprinting away. Whilst the brawl does look intense, it is unlikely either bear was seriously inured. As is the case with most species, dominance battles are not about inflicting injury, but instead are about asserting authority.