The brown bears found along Alaska’s coast are the largest living carnivorous land mammals in the world. They can be imposing creatures when they stand upright reaching 8 to 9 feet and weighing as much as 1,500 pounds! Male bears can be as much as twice the size of females. Male bears tend to be loners and come together with females to create a family. Mothers have 1 to 3 cubs and usually stay with 2 years to teach them how to be bears. We were lucky enough to witness bear mothers with 1 cub, 2 cubs and 3 cubs. The poor Mom with 3 cubs had all she could do to feed them all! The Mom with 2 cubs had plenty of time to not only feed, but really enjoy her cubs. We often found the three of them playing together in all sorts of places! The Mom with one cub was busy raising a little princess as you will see in the book.

Even though these bears are called coastal “brownies”, they can range in color from black with silver tipped hairs to yellow or pale blond, but most are a shade of brown. Their in-land cousins are known as grizzly bears.

The bears in this book live near the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge and have grown up with humans in close proximity. Never-the-less, you must be very careful when photographing and interacting with bears! You are in their food chain and if the bear is having a bad day it’s best to clear out of the way! Sliver Salmon Creek Lodge is a rare place where you can observe these bears in close proximity. If you’d like to see more images, please visit www.cherylawarren.com/index.htm.