Whatever these brown bears were fighting over was extremely personal.
Nature can be a ferociously brutal place, as shown by this extensive battle between two sizable brown bears. Bears are often seen as some of the most fierce predators in the Animal Kingdom, and just as things aren’t pretty when bruins track down other animals, things get really ugly when bears decide to face off against their own kind.
The first portion of the gruesome battle to the death shows one bear having the upper hand (or upper paw) as it bites into the back of the other, with both animals laying on the bank of the river. As one bruin pushes the other into the water, a severe wound can be spotted on the back leg of the bear that’s on the offensive. An open cut like that would normally stop an animal in its tracks, but these two undoubtedly had a significant amount of adrenaline coursing through their bodies.
As the slightly larger bear continues to rip and tear violently on the other’s back, it’s simultaneously guiding its opponent deeper and deeper into the flowing water of the river. It was certainly trying to tire out the other bear and push it out into the water in order to drown it.
Just when you think the other bear doesn’t have a chance, it stands up and starts to challenge the bigger brown bear. The two beasts go tumbling back out onto the shore and out of the water, then stand on their back legs and exchange blows and bites like it’s one of the dirtiest UFC fights the world has ever seen.
Both bruins stay locked into the battle, and there are plenty of momentum swings and shifts in the first part of the fight. Check it out:
You might notice that the face-off between the two massive animals doesn’t reach a conclusion in the clip above. That’s because the brown bears were really just getting started in their dance with death. In the next portion of what could be the wildest bear battle ever captured on camera, the two bruins have fully submerged themselves neck deep in the water, yet are still duking it out.
It then appears that the fight briefly subsided before it was taken back to land so the bears could finish what they started. At this point, both bears have suffered visible injuries, and both have open wounds with blood pouring out and soaking their fur. Neither was going to back down, and someone was going to walk away a winner.
The two brown bears spar with one another right in the middle of some fallen trees, and visually, it’s almost as if a director laid out this spot to be the final, climactic setting to the long-winded brawl. Both can be heard roaring as one of the bruins slowly but surely starts to lose, though it doesn’t ever give in and allow the other bear to officially be crowned the winner. The smaller of the two certainly looks to be close to death as this next portion of the video comes to a close.
According to the video description, this beef was all over a mate, and both bears walked away after nearly 20 minutes of trading blows:
“We were watching a tranquil scene of 2 bears shagging on the beach… we thought how lovely…something you don’t see very often. Then we noticed another bear making its way towards them. He was on a mission… and he went in for the attack while our 2 lovers were still joined.
She made a hasty departure. The guide we were with said the aggressor had killed and eaten a cub the day before…he seemed to have the blood lust…it was the longest 20 minutes of my life…I felt sick watching it but I knew this was a once in a lifetime encounter.
You see a lone bear in the water…she was hanging around watching the whole thing (not the original female…she was long gone) hoping for some male attention. (We were told she is too young to mate and the males are ignoring her.)
We thought it was all over at this stage… both bears had gone their separate ways but they met up again in the bushes… that is when Round 2 started…they went at it for about another 5 minutes…they were so exhausted…they both walked off in the end.”