Kenai: Koda, if I’m gonna be a bear for the rest of my life, you’re gonna have to teach me how they live.

Koda: Okay Kenai! What do you need to know?

Kenai: Well, for starters..what do we eat?

Koda: Well you remember when we went to the salmon run? That’s something us brown bears are great at! Fishing is one of our specialties and when we have the chance to go fishing we can go all day! And catch a lot! But my mom always told me when I ate too much fish I needed to lay down because sometimes we do eat too much and then—

Kenai: Okay Okay Koda, I get it, you like fish. But what about when you can’t get fish?

Koda: Us bears like everything. We eat berries, grass, and animals: even animals that are already dead! Bucky told me this means that we’re scavengers and he also told me that sometimes bears who live near humans will even eat their leftovers.

Kenai: So basically you’re omnivores just like humans.

Koda: What’s an omnivore?

Kenai: Omnivores are animals that eat both plants and other animals.

Koda: Oh yeah that’s us! Did you know that us bears have to eat up to 90 pounds of food a day to get ready for hibernation?

Kenai: That might be more than I eat in month!

Koda: Well us bears don’t eat all winter because we have to hibernate. We can hibernate from 5-8 months a year!

Kenai: What’s hibernation like? Do you really just sleep the whole time? Koda: Well my mom told me that it’s not true hibernation because we do wake up sometimes, but for the most part, yeah it’s just sleeping! We get really mad when we get woken up from hibernation.

Kenai: Are there any predators I have to look out for? What if someone tries to kill me during hibernation? Koda: Awh Kenai, we’re at the top of the food chain! We don’t have anything to worry about! Kenai: Well except humans…

Koda: Well yeah. Humans try to hunt us. But we’re pretty good at scaring them and running away. And since you’re a big male bear, you have nothing to worry about, but little cubs like me and some female bears have to worry about big mean male bears. Sometimes, if they’re really hungry, they’ll attack us because we’re smaller. Kenai: Human’s are the biggest though, right?

Kenai: Koda I don’t think a bajillion’s a word.. Koda: Fine, there were over 100,000 in this land that we live in. But now there are less than 1,000. Humans have killed a lot of our species off.

Kenai: Wow. I never realized what we’ve done…

Koda: Yeah. But it’s okay! You understand now! Maybe someday we’ll get back up to that number again!

Kenai: Yeah. But until then can we go fishing again? I’m starving!

Koda: I bet I’ll beat ya there! Kenai: No way brother!