Careful of those Dutch bears
 

They sure are hungry:
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Hungry bears

Stories like this are why I have the utmost respect for bears. Friendly today is not friendly tomorrow, and evolution doesn't provide sharp claws, huge teeth, binocular vision, and cunning intelligence to animals that only eat roots, leaves, and berries.

True. One should never forget that there's also bears that hunt salmon (proof that they are omnivores. They are mostly vegetarian, but also eat meat. Their teeth are not intended for hunting. Also, I think they are rather short-sighted.).

But they can certainly defend themselves very well. Even though they are not specialised predators, the fact that they don't count as common prey for those animals that *are* predators, should make you think.

Also, male bears have been known to kill the cubs of other males. If they can kill another (albeit younger) bear, they can certainly hurt other animals, including humans.


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Bears rock! (sorry Stephen Colbert) :P I think their sense of smell is like 50 times better even than that of dogs :crazy: I can't even imagine how it must be like "smelling the world" like that. Now the problem with this specific bear is that he has now identified a monkey as a source of food, and like other animals, will likely do the same thing the next time he encounters a monkey (so they'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen again :P).

I only like those that are smarter than the average bear.

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Some good advice.

I've been hiking in the Smokey Mountains where black bears are common. Smart people follow the advice in the article but there are lots of tourists who see a bear and want to get a photo so up they go to take a picture. I remember the last time I was there, there were two cubs playing and these idiot tourists were snapping away with their camera. You see a cub, you just immediately turn around and walk away because mom is probably not far behind and she will hurt you.

In the northen parts of Sweden bears sometimes (not often though) come close to where people live. A couple of years ago a bear wandered right into the tiny community where my parents live. (Right across the water from where Kolzig lives;) ). One night it was spotted on several places among houses and stores. Then it went back into the woods.

Bears are pretty elusive. I've lived around bears my whole life and I have never seen one. I just hear of other people seeing a bear, or see (or smell, phew!) the signs that a bear has been about. They really like to get into composting bins and are terrible for breaking into cabins in the spring.

We learn bear safety at a very young age. Melanie's tip was Rule #1: if you see a cub, haul ass out of there.

You're being chased by a bear. Do you climb up a tree or run into a church?

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What, with a bear behind?

Speaking of bears, has anyone else seen the movie: The Grizzly Man, really good documentary/movie, though it´s quite shocking.

Is that the one where the guy and his girlfriend lived with the grizzlies until the grizzlies wanted a midnight snack one night?

oh, the travesty!!!!!