Bear Belly, Black Bear, Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska – Image 2575

Last week’s image featured this bear catching a red sockeye salmon. In this image this very large bear reclines on some willow bushes after finishing a sockeye salmon supper. While scratching her chest with one paw, she licks clean the other paw. Bears usually never display their bellies. It is a very vulnerable position and only a bear totally comfortable in their surroundings will do this. Because this bear was so large, many of us thought it had to be a male (boar) bear. This position shows this bear is defiantly a female bear. This image illustrates page 11 in my newest book just released in early June, “Black Bears of Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier”. Nikon D200, Lens: 80-400mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor, Digital -Mark Kelley