There was just something about those big Kodiak Brown Bears that captured my heart. They are one of the most exotic creatures I’ve ever seen. Kodiak bears are a unique subspecies of the brown or grizzly bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), the largest of these bears. They live exclusively on the pristine islands of the Kodiak Archipelago and as a result, they have been isolated from other bears for at least 12,000 years. The remoteness of the area we were in has also made their interaction with humans less common. They are big and they are exotic, but their actions make them seem familiar, friendly, and common. In many ways, their every day activities are so much like domesticated animals that it is sometimes hard to believe that they are wild. Watching this bear drink from a stream was exciting and amazing because we were able to get so close and because he was relaxed and doing something so common.