Pictured: The experienced hiker who took up close photos of a grizzly bear for eight minutes before the 600-pound beast mauled and ate him



Richard White's death is the first bear mauling fatality at Alaska's Denali National Park

Mr White's bloody backpack was discovered by a trio of fellow hikers on Friday and his remains were found nearby



Rangers shot the bear and inspected the contents of its stomach to confirm it had killed Mr White

Mr White, 49, was married and had a 21-month-old daughter

Did not carry anti-bear spray, as recommended by park rangers



Experienced: Richard White, a 49-year-old father with a young daughter, had hiked Denali before

The hiker mauled and eaten by a grizzly bear in Alaska's Denali National Park this weekend was an experienced explorer who loved traveling to remote areas alone, his family said.



Wildlife officials believe Richard White, a 49-year-old scientist from San Diego, California, simply got too close to the 600-pound predator as he photographed it grazing on Friday.



For nearly eight minutes, the bear didn't realize Mr White was there and continued foraging.

The pictures on Mr White's camera, which park rangers discovered after his death, reveal the last peaceful moments before the bear noticed him 40 yards away and charged.



Mr White was married with a 21-month-old daughter named Mona. However, he liked to escape alone into the wilderness whenever he could find the time to get away, his father told the San Diego Union-Tribune .



'He had a real zest for seeing the phenomena in the world and interacting with people all over the globe,' Byron White told the newspaper. 'He also liked hiking alone in these remote places. He enjoyed being out in the wilderness.'

Richard White had been the director of exploratory pharmacology at Ferring Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, though he was in the process of changing jobs.



He was an experienced hiker who had been to Denali before and took a bear safety course that is mandatory for all back country hikers in the Park. It includes instructions on how to avoid disturbing bears and what to do if attacked.



Mr White's death is the first known fatal bear attack on a human in the 90-year history of national park. Wildlife officials have worked to keep strict rules about human and wildlife interaction.

Officials recommend hikers carry bear spray, powerful chemicals that work like the pepper spray police officers carry, which can stop a bear charge without permanent harm to the animal.

Grim Discovery: Evidence of the attack was found Friday afternoon by a trio of hikers, who came upon a lone backpack lying near a park river

Other explorers carry powerful rifles, shotguns and pistols to protect themselves. Mr White carried neither. His only defense -- a safety whistle.

Park rules say hikers should keep a quarter-mile distance from bears and back away whenever they see one of the dangerous animals. Mr White was just 40 yards away when he was killed -- 10 times closer than he should have been, the Anchorage Daily News reports.



'Certainly too close,' Pete Webster, Denali's chief park ranger, told the newspaper.



A state trooper shot and killed the bear, a 5-year-old male grizzly on Saturday and investigators examined its stomach contents and to confirm it had killed Mr White.



Rugged: Denali National Park home to Mt. McKinley. It spans more than 6 million acres and is home to numerous wild animals, including bears, wolves, caribou and moose

Wide berth: Hikers are told to give grizzly bears a quarter-mile distance and slowly back away from any bears they see

FATAL BEAR ATTACKS RARE

The fearsome grizzly bear, and its coastal cousin the brown bear, is the second-largest land predator on the planet -- bested only by the polar bear. Despite their massive size and ferocious speed, fatal bear attacks are extremely rare in North America -- averaging less than two a year.

Black bears, which are smaller but live in much closer proximity to urban areas, kill more people than grizzlies.

The last fatal grizzly bear mauling in Alaska was more than seven years ago.

Rich and Kathy Huffman were attacked in their tent in June 2005 in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, along the Hulahula River.

This following is a list of fatal grizzly bear mauling in North America: 2012: 1 -- Denali National Park, Alaska 2011: 2 -- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming 2010: 2 -- Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming 2009: 0

2008: 2 -- Alberta, Canada, and Big Bear Lake, California 2007: 1 -- Alberta, Canada 2006: 1 -- Yukon Territory, Canada 2005: 4 -- British Columbia, Canada, Alberta, Canada, and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska 2004: 0 2003: 2 -- Katmai National Park, Alaska 2002: 0



The hiker was backpacking alone along the Toklat River on Friday afternoon when he came within 40 yards of the bear and began snapping photographs. He was so close, he used a wide-angle lens instead his telephoto, the pictures reveal.

'They show the bear grazing in the willows, not acting aggressive in any form or manner during that period of time,' Denali Park Superintendent Paul Anderson said.

Officials learned of the attack after hikers stumbled upon an abandoned backpack along the river about three miles from a rest area on Friday afternoon. The hikers also spotted torn clothing and blood. They immediately hiked back and alerted staff park.

Rangers in a helicopter spotted a large male grizzly bear sitting on the hiker's remains, which they called a 'food cache' in the underbrush about 100 to 150 yards from the site of the attack on Friday.



'Over the years, and especially since the 1970s, the park has worked very diligently to minimize the conflict between humans and wildlife in the park,' Mr Anderson said.

'We have some of the most stringent human-wildlife conflict regulations in the National Park system, and I think those are largely responsible for the fact that there hasn't been a fatal attack.'

Park officials said they don't believe other registered backpackers are in the immediate area. That portion of the park is closed but other wilderness areas remain open, officials said.



Denali is located 240 miles north of Anchorage, and is famously home to Mt. McKinley. It spans more than 6 million acres and is home to numerous wild animals, including bears, wolves, caribou and moose.

The attack was discovered Friday around 5.30pm, when a trio of other hikers came upon a lone backpack lying along the Tolkat River about three miles from a rest area.