The Truth About Bears -- A Five-Year Photographic Chronicle of Alaskan Brown Bears: A Five-Year Photographic Chronicle of Alaskan Brown Bears

Author: Liu Shuoliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Bears are born solitary and never travel in groups. They lack body language and rarely show facial expressions. They often act without warning or preamble, but they are highly adaptable and curious. Their massive bodies, abundant strength, and unique temperament, combined with ancient folk legends, have shrouded them in mystery. People's understanding of bears is often half-guesswork and half-misunderstanding. Professional photographer and biologist Brett, through his five years of adventure, tracking, and observation of brown bears gathering in Alaska, presents you with the truth about bears. He tells you that bears are neither toys nor demons, guiding you through 173 color photographs and nearly 50,000 words of firsthand material to see how bears forage, hibernate, reproduce, communicate internally and externally, and cause potential disasters, as well as how humans should reasonably respond to brown bears.
In the bear family, the brown bear has the widest distribution, with an estimated global population of 120,000 to 150,000, of which 50,000 live in North America. The Brooks River area in Alaska is the largest gathering ground for brown bears in North America and one of the most densely populated brown bear areas in the world. However, bears are not a gregarious species. People know very little about their habits, characteristics, mating, reproduction, and relationships with their own kind and the outside world. Most of what is known about bears remains at a superficial level, such as the "big clumsy bear" or "blind bear" in folk tales, with more speculation and misunderstanding.
To uncover the truth about bears, professional photographer and biologist Matthias Brett came to the Katmai area along the Brooks River to conduct field observations and research on brown bears for over five years. Through days and nights of relentless searching and tracking solitary bears in harsh weather and snow, he gradually became familiar with brown bears of all ages and survival states. Once strangers, they became well-known acquaintances, and he gave them lovely names. Whether it was watching Chumani, who was about to become a mother, and her playful cubs, or Esther, a fishing expert weighing about 900 pounds but not clumsy, or Lucy, known as the "Brooks River Nightmare" and "Goddess of Revenge," who repeatedly intruded into people's homes to steal food and cause trouble, or "Longevity Elder" Dave and the towering, nine-foot tall "Lambo," they all became an inseparable part of his life.
This book collects the fruits of Brett's five years of hard work—featuring 173 rare, multi-dimensional, and multi-angle photographs of brown bears, as well as his personal experiences and the secrets of the king of Alaska's wilderness. It is detailed, vivid, and full of fascinating legends.