Meet Bucky Dent, one of Katmai’s most innovative bears
Popular Science...
If you’ve followed explore.org’s livestream of the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska this summer, you’ve probably noticed a big bear nicknamed Bucky Dent who is great at catching fish. Officially designated as Bear 164, this roughly seven-year-old adult male is so good at catching fish, he invented a new way to find them as a young subadult bear. Today, the cameras spotted Bucky Dent catching a salmon that looked pretty determined to swim away.
Cameras also spotted him doing a “tango,” or weaving in and out of the water with Bear 909, while searching for fish. Bucky and 909 are often spotted searching for salmon together, and don’t seem to mind close fishing quarters.
Bucky first appeared in the area in 2019 and rangers do not know the identity of his parents. In 2021, he struggled to find a good fishing spot since as a subadult bear with lots of competition. So to find salmon, he invented a new fishing method. He stood at the deepest plunge pool under the cascade of Brooks Falls. Here, he could catch fish that welled up from the pool below, jumping up through the air, or falling from the falls above. No other bear has used this technique. Now that Bucky Dent ranks among the largest bears, he can fish wherever he wants.
In 2022, rangers gave Bucky his official number (164). One way to tell 164 apart from the other bears in the area is the dark vertical indentation on his upper muzzle (or snout). This indentation is where the nickname Bucky Dent comes from, although it is a bit of an homage to the famous New York Yankee. He also has bright blonde oval-shaped ears, and his fur appears dark blonde to medium brown depending on the lighting.
Now that August has arrived, the salmon have reached their spawning grounds and have spread out in the Brooks River. Since the fish dispersed, Bucky Dent and the other bears must also spread out. While they look for more salmon to eat, they will also explore the region’s streams, and take advantage of other food sources like berries.
Later in August, the salmon will begin to weaken and die after spawning. Once the fish weaken, the bears will have an easier time catching them again. By September and into October, more bears will return to the lower Brooks River, just in time for the big Fat Bear Week competition October 2 to October 8. An adult male bear like Bucky Dent can go from roughly 700 pounds when the season begins to over 1,200 pounds by the fall.
You can still catch them from time to time on explore.org’s live cameras and should see them more often as we get closer to September.
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