Wild webcam: Alaskan park streams brown bears catching salmon live

By Earnest Cavalli July 27, 2012

Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are few things in nature more majestic and primal than a half-ton bear swiping its huge paws into a rushing stream and plucking a struggling aquatic snack from beneath the waves. Normally this is the kind of thing that one can only witness in documentaries, or by going to work for the Forestry Service, but thanks to a newly-created live webcam, you can watch a group of hungry brown bears grabbing salmon as it happens.

Created by Explore.org and located in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, the camera streams live video of the river to the ‘net from 6:30AM to 11:30PM Alaska Standard Time. That image above was captured by the camera a few moments ago, and as you can see that particular waterfall happens to be a rather popular dining spot for the local bear population. Unlike many webcams which gather maybe a few worthwhile events per day, the Explore camera is constantly full of ursine activity, so while you may have to wait a few minutes to see a bear snatch its meal from the water, you’ll spend the meantime witnessing a group of huge, hungry animals doing what they do best: Surviving in the harsh Alaskan wilderness.

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That said, if you get tired of watching bears wade through the rapids, you can also spend hours on the Explore.org website learning about these creatures. Did you know that each bear will routinely devour 100lbs of fish per day? Or that these bears are the larger, meaner cousins of the Grizzly? Of course you didn’t, but such are the interesting tidbits you can pick up with a quick perusal of the site.

Then again, forget learning stuff; we’re here to see bears rip fish apart, right? Assuming you lack the lucky streak to see it on the live webcam, the Explore.org site also offers a host of photo and video highlights taken both from this webcam and from other cameras in the area. It may lack the endlessly adorable aesthetics of a basket of newborn kittens, but how often do kittens tear Sockeye Salmon into bloody chunks purely for your entertainment?

Unfortunately, there’s no polite way to embed the webcam’s stream, so we’ll instead direct you to the above hyperlink. Click that thing, scroll down a bit, wait for the stream to load and enjoy. It’s not like you’re busy watching the Olympics, now is it?

Earnest Cavalli

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…

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