It is a keeper

grizzly fishing pinksalmon
Click photo to enlarge then click again

“It is a keeper” is often the first words out of a fishing guide’s mouth when guests first get the salmon to the boat. In this case the grizzly bear must be thinking the same thought, as bears are selective when deciding which salmon to keep at certain times of the season. The selection is based on “male or female”; the fat rich eggs are a prime concern to speed up the weight gain to ensure a successful hibernation.  The tell tail feature for human is that male pink salmon have a rather large and distinctive hump on their back and thus the nick name “humpy”.  As Lynn’s photo shows this salmon lacks the hump so it is a female and to the grizzly “it is a keeper”.