Fun Friday: “Alaskan Water Bed”

This image certainly changes the meaning of a “water bed”! This image was taken along Clint’s Creek (Hallo Bay Bear Camp, located within Katmai National Park, Alaska) as this bear took an apparently much-needed nap, after a successful fishing endeavor:

Brown Bear napping in Clint's Creek

 

Hyperphagia is the term scientists use for describing the behavior that bears go through, as they prepare for the upcoming winter hibernation. Simply put, hyperphagia refers to the bear’s internal need to gorge on food to quickly fatten up, putting on as much as 400 pounds of fat, so that they can endure the winter months that they will be in a den hibernating. I’ve seen this behavior every time I’ve visited Hallo Bay in September. The bears will gorge themselves with salmon … until they literally fall over and take a nap. Sounds kinda like that Thanksgiving Day turkey dinner, right before the football game, doesn’t it?  :o)

If you want to see more images of bears exhibiting the hyperphagia behavior, you can visit this post that I made a few years ago:  “Hyperphagia”

Posted in Mammals, Nature Photography, Travel Photography
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