Well… not exactly ducks here. This photo from Ranger Jeanne captures a female bear with her three cubs in Katmai National Park. As you can see here, brown bears are very adept swimmers from a very young age.
In the Katmai region, female bears generally reach sexual maturity between six and eight years of age, but they may not produce their first litter until several years later. Mating takes place in late spring and early summer. How- ever, fertilized embryos will not implant in the uterus until a female dens for the winter.
This “delayed implantation” may allow the fe- male’s body to determine the size of the litter. A female may have no offspring at all if her body didn’t receive the nutrition it needs over the course of the summer and fall. In the Katmai region, females typically keep their cubs through two summers, and less com- monly through three summers. (NPS/Katmai)
You can see the Brown Bears of Katmai on the Live Cam for the rest of the summer and beginning of fall. Tune in here.
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