Now that’s what you call a spare rib! Pack of bloody-faced polar bears spend day and night stripping a beached whale to its bones

The incredible scene was captured near the Eskimo village of Kaktovik on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska

Animals were feasting on leftover whale carcass after it was hunted and butchered by local Eskimo tribesmen

Normally polar bears are solitary animals, but the mammoth quantity of food on offer made them happy to share




If you go down on the ice today you're sure of a big surprise - a rare glimpse of 20 polar bears gorging on a bloody midnight feast.

These photographs show a rare cluster of males, females and cubs all dining out on the remains of a whale carcass. They spent a night and a day stripping every last morsel from the mammoth sea creature.

Usually Polar bears are solitary and would never tolerate being so close to each other. But with food in plentiful supply and bellies dragging on the floor they seem too lethargic to fight.

Nature, red in tooth and claw: Polar bears feast on a rib from a whale carcass left behind by Eskimo hunters near the village of Katovik, Alaska

Rare sight: These photographs show a rare cluster of males, females and cubs all dining out on the remains of a whale carcass

Unusual: Polar bears are solitary animals and in normal circumstances they would never tolerate being so close to each other...



... But with food in plentiful supply and bellies dragging on the floor they seem too lethargic to fight

Midnight feast: Wildlife photographer Michal Tyl, 32, captured the scene near the Eskimo village of Kaktovik on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska

Levtovers: He was invited there by Eskimos who had just hunted the whale, stripped it of its useful parts, and left the remains for the bears to gobble up

A polar bar looks unnervingly straight into the camera: Inupiat Eskimos from Kaktovik have the right to catch and harvest three whales every year, said Mr Tyl

Wildlife photographer Michal Tyl, 32, captured the scene near the Eskimo village of Kaktovik on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska.

He said: 'We were invited by our Eskimo friends to join them on a night visit of a whale carcass, which had just been caught and harvested by Eskimos.

'Being one of the first nations, Inupiat Eskimos from Kaktovik have the right to catch and harvest three whales every year, which they do in autumn.

'The polar bears who come to Kaktovik in autumn swim from free-flowing ice further north and have learned that there is always something left for them from the whale once the Eskimos have removed all the "good pieces".

'What is left are mostly bones with bits of meat - more than enough to feed the hungry bears for the day.'

Yum: Mr Tyl said that the polar bears have learned that there is always something left for them from the whale once the Eskimos have removed all the 'good pieces'

Nourishing: What the Eskimo hunters leave behind is mainly just bones and meat, but that's more than enough to feed the hungry bears, the photographer said

Hungry as a bear: Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivores, rivalled only by the Kodiak brown bears of south-western Alaska

Dr Atkins would be proud: They usually feed on seals but, given the opportunity, are also known to eat walrus, beluga whale and bowhead whale carcasses

Not the most social characters: As adults, polar bears are generally solitary creatures - except during breeding and cub rearing

Collective noun: When they do gather together, like here, they are poetically described as an 'aurora' of polar bears; more mundanely they can also be dubbed a 'pack'

Amazing spectacle: Mr Tyl described how the larger, adult bears were able to deal with the mammoth whale ribs 'as if they didn't weigh anything'

'A fat bear is a happy bear': Polar bears are considered one of the few animals who actively hunt humans - but Mr Tyl said he felt relaxed among them

Young and old: 'Bear sows were letting their cubs squeeze in next to male bears, although this would never be possible during the day,' said Mr Tyl

Polar party: He described how the fierce predators 'were all dirty from mud and blood, chewing, cracking bones, squelching and growling'

Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivores, rivalled only by the Kodiak brown bears of south-western Alaska.



Sitting at the top of the Arctic food chain, they usually feed on seals but, given the opportunity, are also known to eat walrus, beluga whale and bowhead whale carcasses.

They are only very rarely seen eating vegetation.



As adults, polar bears are generally solitary creatures - except during breeding and cub rearing. However, when they do gather together, as in these pictures, they are poetically described as an 'aurora' of polar bears, although more mundanely they can also be dubbed a 'pack'.

Last bits: In the morning seagulls arrived to scavenge the few morsels left on the whale bones by the hungry pack of polar bears

Picked clean: A polar bear mother stands amid the stripped remains of the whale carcass with her two cubs after the night-long feast

Full up: Two large adult polar bears are either sharing a touching moment or roaring in each other's faces in this picture taken after the feed is over

Playtime: Having eaten their fill, the two savage beasts appear to frolic among the remains of the whale carcass, with most of their peers already departed

Mr Tyl added: 'We went in a small group of four and came to see an amazing spectacle.It was a feast of over 20 bears of all sizes, from small cubs to large males. They were all dirty from mud and blood, chewing, cracking bones, squelching and growling.

'The larger bears were easily dealing with huge whale ribs as if they didn't weigh anything.

'Bear sows were letting their cubs squeeze in next to male bears, although this would never be possible during the day.

'Their only goal was to get as fat as possible, quickly. Some of them could hardly drag their bellies, since this was their second whale of the year and they were already full after finishing the leftovers from the first one.'

Polar bears are considered one of the few animals who actively hunt humans - but Mr Tyl said he felt relaxed among them.