Giant Alaskan Bears. Part 4

▶ Spanish video: /watch/g1jHSJU9J9v9H ▶SUBSCRIBE: /channel/UCn6XISEgiZpl4oO2SwVn7Sw In the far north-west of the American continent stretches a land some one and a half million square kilometres in size. It is an inhospitable region, where life must make the maximum advantage of the few warm months, after which the cold and the snow will once more take over the land. Nonetheless, such is the natural wealth of Alaska that over 50% of all the protected territory of the United States of America can be found here. The start of the melt announces the resurgence of life in Alaska. From this time on the land undergoes a rapid transformation. With the increase in temperature, the layer of snow that had covered the landscape shrinks back and the vegetation begins a race against the clock to complete its life cycle in the few available months. With the vegetation, food returns, and the largest of Alaska’s land carnivores, the grizzly bear, awakes from its winter sleep. The grizzly bear belongs to the same species as the European bear, but its better diet enables it to grow much bigger. A Pyrenean bear weighs around 300 kilos and stands two metres tall, while on Kodiak island some bears can weigh almost 1,000 kilos and measure 3 metres. The grizzlies are solitary animals, and at the start of spring hunger makes them even more dangerous. In times of hunger the adult bears are capable of killing and eating young of their own species, so it’s probably best to take no chances. As the summer advances, the grizzly bears leave the pasture to visit the shores where this manna from heaven is about to arrive. All of them are waiting for the salmon to arrive, their only hope in this cold, hostile land. Each year thousands of salmon return to the rivers where they were born, providing the local wildlife with the food they need to build up the reserves necessary to survive the long, harsh winter. They are manna from the sea, the reserves of protein and fat everyone is waiting for. The salmon, quite simply, are life. The salmon have finally reached the land they originally came from, but their odyssey has just begun. Now, they have to face seagulls, eagles, otters, and above all the great predator of Alaska, the largest land carnivore in the world – the grizzly bear. The salmon are Alaska’s particular staff of life, on which all other wildlife, directly or indirectly, depends. Marine mammals, birds and land predators rely on this torrent of proteins and carbohydrates which every year sweeps across the land. Their enormous reserves, accumulated in order to survive for weeks without eating, will pass directly to the bodies of their assassins. Their only hope lies in sheer numbers. While the predator is occupied with one victim, others are able to escape and continue on their way.

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