National Geographic on polar bears

[another okie]

There was a show on last night about some polar bears killing some hikers at Spitzbergen, Norway. Two women were hiking, one was killed, one got away. Two men were hiking, the man fired a .22 revolver in the air to frighten the bear, which did not work. The bear then killed him. Then they showed a bear stalking some researchers, who were, as the show said "appropriately armed" and shot the bear dead. The researchers were shown with what looked like an old Mauser; they also had a guard dog to warn them of bears.

The show tried to blame the bears' behavior on pollution or airplane noise. The bears weren't starving or injured or sick. Possibly they were just curious and hadn't been around people much.

Here's some pictures of the nice, furry, soft little lovable tykes.

http://www.svalbard-images.com/spitsbergen/polar-bears-e.php

 

[Hypnogator]

Polar bears are an endangering species.

AFAIK, they're the only bears left that routinely hunt humans.

 

[Lichter]

yep, polar bears are great

 

[Ash]

Well, I was at the Birmingham Zoo and they claimed:

1) That hippopotamus are herbivores where they are omnivores

and
2) To save frog habitats, only certified Organic or Fair Trade products should be bought when both methods actually destroy more habitat due to far less efficient use of the land.

Rarely do facts get in the way of agendas.

Ash

 

[HorseSoldier]

Polar bears have had a reputation for a long time of being casual man eaters if they get the chance. Makes sense for a very large predator in a very lean kind of environment.

 

[El Tejon]

We are nothing more than seals with legs to them.

 

[taliv]

well, seals with legs and GUNS

 

[jackdanson]

The show tried to blame the bears' behavior on pollution or airplane noise. The bears weren't starving or injured or sick. Possibly they were just curious and hadn't been around people much.

I love how they try to find (human caused) excuses as to why bears/sharks/mountain lions are attacking people. Truth is we are food to them, just like any other animal is food to them. Sometimes they act like if the animal realised you were a human they'd be like "oh, nevermind, I won't eat YOU!!"

 

[Halo]

I know! It's amusing how they always try to rationalize some human-caused reason that predators occasionally attack people. It can never be because predators are opportunistic feeders, can it? You know maybe the swimmer looked nothing like a seal, maybe the swimmer's only mistake was being in the shark's environment and small enough to fit in its jaws?

Makes sense for a predator, they never know when their next meal is coming so anything potentially edible is worth at least checking out, because it might be their only opportunity for a while.

 

[TX1911fan]

The only decision a predator makes when deciding to kill something is whether they can do it without being killed themselves. Many predators won't attack humans becuase we are large and aware. Many, however, will. Bears, big cats, crocs, these guys are all big enough to not care too much about us. Smaller predators like coyotees, snakes, etc. will attack only if forced to, or if ill. They don't want to take the chance that this big lump of flesh can kill them first.

 

[Dain Bramage]

Quite a few years ago, National Geographic ran an article on an Arctic polar expedition, also by Norwegians, I believe. The group was stalked by a polar bear. When it got too near, they shot and killed it with a Model 29, 4-inch .44 magnum. They ran the pictures of the dead bear in the article, and caught quite a bit of grief in the letters section.

 

[Organdonor]

It's healthy for one of us to get eaten every once in awhile. After all, we're only on the top of the food change because we happened to get opposable thumbs

 

[MinnMooney]

After all, we're only on the top of the food change because we happened to get opposable thumbs

Well, the opposable thumbs helped us to make spears, archery equip. and guns. THEN we arrived at the top of the food chain.... most of the time.

 

[Acheron]

I think that one of the reasons why some people always try to attribute predatory attacks on people to human cause is because of the very nature of the attacks themselves. I think that there is a large portion of the population that is deeply unsettled with the thought of being hunted (for food or otherwise) by anything. Look at most horror movies, they tend to revolve around people trying to escape a predator, human or otherwise. Plus most people don't see themselves as 'food', even for an animal.

 

[Jeff White]

The first copy of FM 21-76 Survival that I ever had was published in the late 60s or early 70s. It warned that polar bears were one of the only predators that would routinely stalk and kill a man. Pollution, aircraft noise?? I don't think so. Nature of the terrain and what a polar bear eats...probably has everything to do with it.

Jeff

 

[leadcounsel]

Well, I'm guessing that polar bears and other significant predatory animals attack us because we have invaded their space, much like we would attack them if the rolls were reversed. That, and they're hungry. I can't say as I blame them and the conservationist in me would err on the side of NOT killing a polar bear or shark unless it was necessary. One other point is that I believe that due to human expansion and exploration of the world, combined with destruction of the animals' natural food sources (through pollution, expansion, etc.) often causes animals to hunt humans or enter into human communities. There is a lot of empirical evidence to show that polar bears are suffering due to global warming and their population is on the brink....

Oh, and if you don't want to get attacked by a polar bear or shark, stay out of their territory!

 

[Pilot]

Polar Bears will stalk you then eat you. When you are on their turf you are no longer at the top of the food chain, especially if not armed "approriately".

 

[elmerfudd]

I always get a kick out of people who do dumb things like diving with aggressive types of sharks and then tell us how they're such beautiful and misunderstood animals and that we're not their natural food source and shouldn't fear them. It makes me remember my college roommate's fish tank full of piranha. Those piranha would happily swim side by side with the feeder fish in that tank for days on end until they decided they were either hungry or bored enough to eat them. Same thing with sharks, grizzleys, polar bears and crocodiles. 9 times out of ten they're probably not going to mess with you, but it you're unlucky enough to encounter them on a day when they're hungry or pissed off it'll probably be a different story.

 

[roscoe]

Well, those animals are beautiful. They are also predators. They are best left alone, and killing them is a shame. Of course, if it me or them, it is definitely them.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

One of my favorite cartoons showed two polar bears biting the top off an igloo. One of them says, "I love these things -- a crunchy outside and a chewy center."

 

[cracked butt]

Well, the opposable thumbs helped us to make spears, archery equip. and guns. THEN we arrived at the top of the food chain.... most of the time.

I saw a show on one of the Discovery channels awhile back about extinct giant bears thatinhabited the North American continent- supposedly they stood about 8-9' at their shoulders. The belief was that the land bridge that connected Asian with North America was in place for 10s of thousands of years but humans didn't successfully start to populate North America until around 14,000 years ago at about the time these bears went extinct along with a large number of other giant ice age animals. The theory presented on the show was that humans were nothing but easy-to-catch meals for these bears and humans simply couldn't survive in North America while these bears were present.

 

[MD_Willington]

Happens all the time in Northern Canada, Polar Bear wanders into town, sees kids as a tasty snack and mom or dad have to whack the bears.

Actually there are a lot of attacks in Northern Manitoba, Churchill, on the western shore of Hudson Bay has a Polar Bear hotline.

 

[jlbraun]

Churchill, on the western shore of Hudson Bay has a Polar Bear hotline.

"If you are currently being eaten, press 1. If someone else is being eaten, press 2..."

 

[Art Eatman]

Some more on "protecting" polar bears in this age of Globular Worming:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/fontova/fontova70.html

 

[Halo]

I always get a kick out of people who do dumb things like diving with aggressive types of sharks and then tell us how they're such beautiful and misunderstood animals and that we're not their natural food source and shouldn't fear them.

Did you see the guy (Erich Ritter, I believe) on Discovery Channel's Shark Week, the guy who regularly waded into the water with bull sharks in the Bahamas? He was in the middle of a speech like you describe when one of the sharks took his entire calf muscle off, all caught on camera.

I don't for a second doubt the fact that mankind is far more dangerous to wildlife than the other way around, but all the same I think it's a failure to respect the power of large predators to assume that we're never on their menu except by mistake.