Bear knuckle fight! Two bear cubs go head-to-head in playful wrestling match!

It might look like they’re fighting to the death – but these bear cubs are just play-fighting as they go head-to-head.

The two brown bears look terrifying as they bare their teeth and square up to each other, but their impromptu wrestling match is just for fun.

The action shots were taken by photographer Sergey Ivanov, 53, during a trip to Kuril Lake at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, on the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in far-east Russia.

Sergey, from Kirov, Russia, said: “In the pictures you see two young, wrestling bears – it’s both a fight and play, it’s some kind of training.

“Though it looks pretty fierce and cruel, no bear is badly harmed.

“The conflict started suddenly, and lasted about 15 minutes before it calmed down as suddenly as it started.

“Bears usually sleep during the snow period, but Kamchatka is a place where there is plenty of food for them – that’s why they hibernate later.

“Bears are my favourite animals and I visit Kamchatka every year to watch and photograph brown bears.