Google Earth Has Live Cams of Bears Fishing and Humping
FYI, bear, you're on camera.
For those who live near the wilderness, it’s bear season; and for those who don’t, it’s BearCam season. Google Earth announced on Wednesday that it’s added live streams of Alaskan brown bears to its platform. Ever watched a bear catch fish from underwater? Now’s your chance — it’s rad.
These are the same live streams of bears roaming Alaska’s Katmai National Park that went viral last year: Except now they’ve been upgraded and added into Google Earth’s recently-debuted “Voyager” feature, which allows users to take “tours” through curated locations along with informational “Knowledge Cards” and videos.
Explore.org still hosts the park’s BearCams, too, but the site was smart to partner with Google Earth because the streams are way better in the Voyager format. Google Earth’s interface is more attractive, user-friendly, and contextualizes the scenes by zooming you around the park between them.
There are five live cameras: one at a waterfall, where you can watch the bears fish for salmon that fly up into the air; two from scenic locations around the park’s Brooks River; one from underwater in the river, where you can see the bears “snorkel” and fish; and one from 2,440 feet up on the park’s Dumpling Mountain.
Bears fishing for salmon at the Brooks River falls.
Right now the bears are surfacing from a six- to seven-month hibernation period, so you’re likely to catch them voraciously hunting salmon. Katmai’s bears can consume up to 40 fish — which means 100 pounds of food and 100,000 calories — every day.
If you watch long enough, you might even catch a glimpse of the bears pulling some of this action:
Bears fucking.
If these BearCams only whet your appetite and you’re eager for more wildlife live streams, check out the five best ones here.
