Two male Alaskan grizzly bears were fighting for dominance in Lake Clark National Park, as seen in a nine-minute video posted Sunday.
Natural Habitat Expedition Leader Brad Josephs uploaded the video to his YouTube channel, saying he has never witnessed a fight like this in his 25 years guiding in Alaska. “This is the longest, most intense bear interaction,” Josephs wrote in the caption.
Awesome bear fight I filmed! outside magazine! https://t.co/B0dMHbGXf3
— Brad josephs (@JosephsBrad) May 11, 2023
“This is ten times longer than the longest fight I’ve ever seen and more intense,” Josephs says in the video. Grizzly bears in Alaska can weigh upwards of 700 pounds. They typically fight during mating season, but Josephs notes no females were watching. (RELATED: Florida Cop Responds To ‘Fight In Progress’ Call, Breaks Up Two Angry Goats)
“In my 25 years guiding brown bear photography and film crew expeditions, this was by far the longest duration and greatest intensity of any bear fight I have ever seen,” Josephs told Outside. “It just kept going and going. I was astounded by the determination and stamina of both bears as they battled for mating season dominance rights.”
At the end of the video, one of the bears admits defeat and backs down. “He has got his head down he’s basically saying, ‘I’m sorry, I lost’ and the winner walks away,” Josephs says. “The winner will walk away and the loser will stand there.”
Josephs specializes in bear photography and has filmed bears in Canada, China, and Borneo. He is an expert in bear biology and ecology in Northern Canada and Alaska. Josephs’s YouTube channel has 15,800 subscribers and this video has over 165,000 views.
Of the 55,000 grizzly bears in North America, Alaska has roughly 30,000. They are currently protected as a threatened species in the United States. Grizzly bears are also in Russia, Europe, Scandinavia, and Asia.