Grizzly bear tries to eat GoPro camera in Alaskan river; photo by Monique Brignoni/Caters News Agency
Wildlife photographer Chris Weston had just unpackaged his new GoPro camera, and hoped to use it to capture up-close footage of grizzly bears on Alaska’s Katmai Peninsula.
The project was successful, but what Weston hadn’t planned on was a large grizzly becoming curious about the camera’s flashing red light, then using it as a chew toy. (The accompanying footage shows the bear’s attraction to the camera at 40 seconds. Still images are also used in the video.)
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Remarkably, though, the sturdy camera held up under the assault, and Weston returned home with some very unusual footage captured from above and below the river’s surface, showing a bear foraging for salmon and diverting its attention, for a spell, to gnaw on the GoPro.
“I was crossing my fingers and anything else I could cross in the hope that the camera was still recording,” Weston, who is from the U.K., told the Daily Mail, via Caters News Agency. “It then occurred to me that there was a good chance I wasn’t going to get the camera back.”
Grizzly bear peers down at GoPro, before using it as a chew toy; photo via Monique Brignoni/Caters News Agency
Grizzly bears can bite with enormous pressure, and boast very sharp teeth, so Weston was fortunate that his casing held up virtually unblemished.
He had set out to capture footage showing the grizzly bears’ connection with salmon in the remote Alaskan wilderness.
He had placed the GoPro in shallow water to try to capture imagery of bears chasing salmon along the riverbed.
“However, this bear became intrigued by the camera, we think maybe because of the flashing recording light,” Weston said.
GoPro footage captured grizzly bear roaming the river in search of salmon; photo by Monique Brignoni/Caters News Agency
Weston was accompanied by Monique Brignoni, who supplied the still images for this story.
After setting up the GoPro, the two watched the bears arrive from about 150 yards away.
“Working with bears over many years, I have had many close encounters but never something quite as up close and personal as this,” Weston said. “In terms of excitement and anticipation of seeing the results, this was up there with the best.”
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