McNeil River State Game Sanctuary - Bear "Following" behavior

McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, Alaska, June 2018. In this sequence, the large and high-ranking male bear named “Rocky” seems focused on something other than the salmon in Mikfik Creek. He is engaged in a behavior called “following” and in this case his attention is on a large female named “Quinoa” (pronounced “kwin-oh-ah” – don’t ask….). While Quinoa does not wait for Rocky to closely approach, neither does she run off. The two bears walk slowly around and back and forth across Mikfik Creek multiple times. At one point they circle behind another large male “Ears” and, not wanting to get involved with Rocky, he leaves the area. After quite a while, much longer than even this long sequence, Quinoa heads through the sedges and up the Mikfik Creek drainage, with Rocky following….