Kamchatka brown bears and the annual salmon run

All over Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, brown bears are heading towards rivers and streams. Tensions are running high. The bears are usually solitary, but once a year they are all drawn here by one thing, salmon. The fish are on their annual migration from the sea. They will soon be arriving in their millions, an annual event that the bears can’t afford to miss. They have been waiting for days and are hungry and irritable.

The salmon have traveled hundreds of kilometers upstream into the heart of Kamchatka. One quarter of the entire population of Pacific salmon come here to spawn. Soon there will be plenty of food for everyone.

For most of the year, Kamchatka bears feed on plants and berries. For the young cubs, this is a new experience. The bears get most of their calories during the annual salmon run. At it’s peak, they can catch and eat a fish every 20 minutes. It’s crucial for the bears to stock up on fat reserves to survive the long winter. The salmon’s fatty skin and nutritious eggs are favored and often the rest of the fish is discarded. Within days, the bears will have gained as much as 200 kilos in weight.

Despite the bears, millions of salmon make it to the spawning grounds. Here each female lays thousands of eggs that are then fertilized by the males. It’s the beginning of new life and the end of the old.