There is a river in Alaska with salmon in it. There are bears eating the salmon. and there are cameras pointed at the bears. I have lost entire days to it and I intend to lose more.
At the time of writing, we near the end of the summer salmon migration, an event which draws tens of bears to various spots along the Brooks River in Katmai national park, where live-streamed cameras give us a window into their beary interesting lives.
A few important things about bears:
- They are not people, and do not subscribe to human concepts of morality. Bears will kill and eat other bears, even cubs. This is nature. The bears do not know about right and wrong, so they cannot be considered "good" or "bad" bears in this way.
- There are a few important stages of a bears life: cubs (the true babies, dependent on mom entirely), yearling cubs (tweenagers at 1 year old, still with mom), subadults (teenage bears, lanky and emancipated from mom), and adults. The babiest cubs with mom are called "coys" for Cub Of the Year.
- Bears are hard to identify at first, and you don't really need to. With time you might recognize a few from the cubs they are with, other commenters, their fishing spot, their fishing style, or appearance like scars, size, and fur colors.
- I'm sure there's other stuff I forgot, I'll come back.
Some time in the autumn the park takes the fattest (or most beloved) of them, puts them in a bracket, and lets the public vote. The bears are not informed. They are asleep in a hole.
Watch the Bears:
When
The park announces the bracket in September. Everything before that is purely preparatory and for getting to know the bears, which is the correct and traditional way to follow a sport.
What I am looking for
Not the biggest bear. The best bear. There is a difference and I will die on this hill.