Brown bear cub on tree stump, meadow, evergreen forest, mountains

Little bear, big wilderness

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a buffet of all that a growing brown bear can eat: Sedge grasses in the meadows, sockeye salmon in the rivers, and mussels and clams along the Cook Inlet coast. But before it goes off wandering this Alaskan wilderness' 4 million-plus acres, this cub will stay with its family—a single mama bear and usually one to four siblings—until about age two. Once fully grown, it'll reign undisputed as the park's dominant predator, competing only with the human anglers who avidly fish the area's abundant salmon runs.