A big male interrupts his salmon feasting to court a female (females are roughly half the size of males).
The two bears mate midstream. The scar across the male's back is from some skirmish with another male, probably over a fishing spot.
Aerial view of the entire Brooks River, with the falls in the middle and Brooks Lodge at the far left. To get to the falls, we had to walk about a mile, crossing the river on the bridge near its mouth, and then follow a trail through the woods on the far side of the river. You can't see that trail, but you can see the elevated walkway at the end of the trail leading up to the falls; the walkway keeps visitors above/away from big bears that are taking breaks from fishing - or carrying their fish into the woods to consume.
