As described in my threads in the Avian categories, we encountered a very dramatic scene during our trip to Svalbard. The Polar Bear did not allow us to get closer. As he started to pull the carcass away from us, we stopped our approach to get closer. We ended up approx. 150-200m away from the scene.
After hours, the Polar Bear left the scene and in the following morning we decided to leave the ship and to walk over to the scene. According to the tracks we found - including lots of blood - it was quite obvious that the adult male killed the approx. 3 year old young Polar Bear.
Canon EOS 5DII, 4.0/400DO IS, 1.4xII, ISO1600, f5.6, 1/320sec, cropped from the bottom
Cannibalism in the bear world is not unusual. Especially males eating cubs. Apparently they kill the cubs so the mother will mate again. I knew this happened in the Grizzly Bear world. I didn't know Polar Bear did the same thing.
I like this one's loss framing and habitat inclusion. Bears large enough to know what they are and what is happening.
I would suggest here, like the image in the Landscape forum, a ROT placement. Your close to it so I decided to drop a cropping tool on it to see and posted it here. ONe thinkg to try would be lowering the magenta/red color cast of this powerful image.
it's a good idea to crop like you suggested. I wasn't sure doing that or as I have done it, because of the Ivory Gull on the right hand side juxtaposing the one on the left.
The magenta cast is a bit strange. I can see it on the JPG posted on both of my calibrated screens (Apple and Eizo) but not on the original RAW which I converted in Lightroom. That should now be corrected.
I have been looking at this and the other images in your series purely as an observation of the behaviour. I have found them to be fascinating and deeply disturbing. I was unaware of cannibalism in Polar Bears and sincerely hope this is because of their unrelenting predation rather than an act of desperation, because the latter would seem to me to signal terminal decline in this magnificent species.
Clearly you have had a fascinating voyage; thanks for sharing it with us.
Hi Bernd, This is a very powerful image in my opinion. The action you captured is captivating. The inclusion of the habitat/environment and main subject adds up to a very engaging image. I like Robert's cropping suggestion. Thanks for sharing.
Powerful natural history image.. I encountered this same thing a few years back on Cape Churchill. Comp works fine for me as is and the recrop seems to work as well. I kinda like the gull bookends.
powerful and tragic shot. thanks for sharing. I don't think the distance is a bother here - since it gives you an idea of the desolation here, and could also convey the reason for cannibalism - no food around for miles :)
What a small world we nearly bumped into one another, we were on the MV Stockholm when we pulled up alongside the Origo to refuel.
By that time we arrived the older bear had moved away from the kill.
It is relatively common place for Bears to kill one another , personally I would not describe it as cannibalism more the elomination of potential opposition, given the relative scarcity of food I am not surprised that it was not left to go to waste.
You did well considering the distance between the boat and your subject.
right, I was on the MS Origo being back at Longyearbyen on September 7.
We found the adult bear at the point where it happened originally and based on the lots of blood and the tracks in the ice it was very likely that the adult had killed the young one.
After the adult one left the carcess, we parked the MS Origo at the ice and walked over to the carcass.
Over the following night, the adult pulled the carcass over a reasonable distance.
And of course, we have seen the bears at the fin whale as well. :-)
Polar Bear Cannibalism
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