Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Em_Adespoton t1_jcnjzel wrote

Quite the event to share with the grandkids.

I do take issue with one statement though:

> which just might be the most dangerous creature on earth

Where I come from, there’s a saying: if it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lie down. If it’s white, goodnight.

A grizzly wouldn’t stand a chance against a polar bear.

176

TheSmegger t1_jco7ols wrote

The recommendation for dealing with a polar bear, if you have no weapon, is to run to water asap. Then dive in and inhale... It's a much better way to die than being torn to shreds, while being kept alive as long as possible.

191

TolMera t1_jcp7gck wrote

Wtf? They keep you alive!

42

orangethepurple t1_jcpdx9h wrote

Kind of, it's not that they're trying to. Bears just don't give the courtesy of making sure you're dead first before they start eating like tigers.

114

Anangrywookiee t1_jcqgj9d wrote

That’s why I always do my best to stick my head right into the polar bears mouth.

28

TolMera t1_jcqyjlf wrote

That would make an intense video game. You’re not dead until you’re actually dead

7

King-Krown t1_jcnz7eu wrote

I didn't know there was such a big weight difference.. Damn.

7

Spirited-Relief-9369 t1_jcodtll wrote

There's also the difference in aggression; polar bears live in an arctic desert, where anything and everything that can be killed and eaten has to be in the name of survival.

That's why the loss of their habitat, causing them to flee southwards, has already led to human deaths.

56

NotAnotherEmpire t1_jcp8hn8 wrote

Polar bear could be hurt enough fighting a grizzly to not want to.

The problem is polar bears aren't afraid of anything. They have no evolutionary pressure on fear besides more formidable polar bears.

23

manzanita2 t1_jcq0cjt wrote

it might be added that the way the get formidable is by eating everything else.

9

BugSamurai t1_jcqkbm1 wrote

While I agree a polar bear encounter is more deadly than a grizzly encounter, how often do people encounter polar bears? I'd say there's a solid chance I'll never be in polar bear country in my lifetime, but the range of the brown/grizzly overlaps with human civilization much more. This is from a North American perspective btw. I'd bet brown bear is at the top of the list of animal deaths in NA.

6

Harsimaja t1_jcqd5ht wrote

Right. It’s not even the most dangerous bear in the U.S. Globally hippos, tigers, some highly venomous snakes/spiders/jellyfish, extremely poisonous frogs and various living infectious agents and vectors would probably be up there too. And crocs, depending on what you’re doing at the time.

3

MizElaneous t1_jcqp3go wrote

Have you met many grizzly or polar bears? Polar bears are far more risk averse than grizzly bears. A grizzly bear can survive with a broken leg, a polar bear can't, and they know it.

3