Katmai - 273 and 806 serious full-on fight at the river..oh, my!

That was a scary fight between sows! And it was all triggered by a misunderstanding. 806's little coy lost track of mom, and thought mom was a scary bear coming after it. Swam towards the 273's family and mom swam behind it to bring it back. But 273 was not happy about it and they had an argument. It would have ended there, but 806's coy climbed on top of her mom's back and shoulders for safety. That was a big mistake, since that submerged her mom. She tried to get the coy off her back, with 273 right there. 273 took it as aggression, and bit the coy in the butt and dragged it down. All hell broke loose. In the ensuing fight, 806 had the upper paw, by being on shallower water and being able to dunk 273 until she got her footing to fight back. The poor coy got submerged for 5 seconds under water, in the craziness of the two big sows, and was left gasping for air. 806 got some front leg scratches and 273 got bitten multiple times. 273's two cubs, especially the light colored, smallest one, were right there with mom in the fight. All bears seemed to be fine, as witnessed afterwards. 806 is a first time mom with her only coy. She's an apprehensive and aggressive mama bear. 273 is pretty aggressive, too. It shows that even bear cubs and moms can sometimes lose track of each other. #katmai #brownbear #katmaibear #brooksfalls #bearfight #806 #273 Katmai National Park, AK @ Brooks River Oct 10th, 2020, 1:30p AK