What an amazing it has been guiding expeditions for Natural Habitat in Alaska. Before my season began I got to spend some time near Lake Clark National Park during the peak of mating season. Here are two videos I filmed of bears scratching on trees. Bears certainly do itch in the summer, as they lose their winter fur, which explains the first video. The second video shows a giant dominant male bear marking a special scratching tree that is used to assert dominance. In brown bear mating season, males must compete with a limited number of females since many females are raising cubs and not available. Male bears do certainly fight for females, but these fights can be extremely dangerous and they avoid it unless they think they stand a good chance of winning. Many behaviors, such as scent marking a tree, help these bears decide who is the most powerful and dominate without physical conflict. I explain more about this in the third video which I narrate. The world of bears is forever fascinating and complex. Enjoy and thanks for watching! Visit my YouTube channel for many more bear videos.
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