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I knew they were big bears but not TWICE A HUMAN size! I didn't even google this image for the polar bear I wanted to see how big a black bear is.
guess I'm never going to ~~Antarctica~~!
edit: okay we got ANOTHER TIL. Apparently polar bears don't live in Antarctica!
...I need to watch more nature documentaries...
Good news, Antarctica is still polar bear free ;)
That is what the name means, afterall.
Why are people downvoting this?
because it's not directly true, Antarctica means "land opposite the place below the bear-shaped constellations", not "land without bears".
Reality is often "controversial" these days.
Sometimes downright unbearable
Because it actually means "The opposite side from the bear place"
Hmm... How would you like to see a polar bear from below?
😉
Because the name actually doesn’t have anything to do with real bears.
It was directional about the constellation Ursa Major (which in Greek is Arktos Megale).
There’s also Ursa Minor which is the little bear constellation, that contains the north star and is a great navigational tool.
Arctic and Antarctic basically just mean north and south.
They're northern Hemisphere, not Antarctica. We have them in our province (Manitoba), but yes they're big. On average tho not quite as big as the painting there shows.
This would be a female bear, as she is with her cubs. Polar bears are actually the second most sexually dimorphic mammal. Consequently males are vastly bigger than females.
The most sexually dimorphic? The elephant seal. Those dudes are immense.
Edit: this, I read on wikipedia a couple of years ago. The information is no longer there but the fact that polar bears and elephant seals are among the most dimorphic mammals remains. The precise ranking is perhaps a little more obscure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear
I knew it! Seeing them in a Zoo many years back I got the impression they were pretty big but not THAT massive.
I think the painting shows the largest they've found, not the norm. It's like showing Robert Wadlow (The tallest guy in the world at 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadlow) to show the size of humans. Yes we can get that large, but it's an extreme example.
If one of the average sized ones rises up in front of you and roars, I bet it would look just as big as that painting.
Can anyone confirm? Probably not.
Yup, Not many people get the opportunity to see one up close and live to tell about it, unless there's something REALLY solid in between them. Like that Nat Geo guy in the cage. https://youtu.be/U-S4NbX5IYE They're absolutely terrifying up close...
They don't typically roar tho, unless they're fighting or f..uh screwing. And they're not scared of anything.
If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lay down. If it's white, say good night.
Yeah, if one ever gets that unlucky you just have to hope they make it quick.
polar bears: "i just love kidding"
Arctus = “Bear”, Anti = “against” in ancient Greek, or “opposite” in modern meaning.
Arctic = bears are here
Anti-arctic = opposite bears, or “no bears”.
Has absolutely nothing to do with actual bears though.
The name comes from the constellation Ursa Major, which in Greek was Arktos Megale. Both mean the Great Bear.
Basically it just means north and not north because the Ursa Major constellation has the North Star in it.
It does just kinda work out that bears are in the northern hemisphere and not the southern hemisphere. There’s only one bear native to the southern hemisphere, the Spectacled Bear native to the Andes mountain in South America. There are no bears native to Africa or Oceania at all.
yeah if you put bears on antarctica they mutually annihilate
If it's brown lay down
If it's black fight back
If it's white say goodnight
There's a reason why they say that
There's reasons in rural communities in Canada that polar bears frequent that it is custom to keep your car doors unlocked at all times, so if someone walking runs into a polar bear they can dive into a random car for safety.
It is not just that they are enormous and strong. Its that they will actively hunt you for food unlike most brown or black bears.
I think they are fairly unique among the animal kingdom for being willing to chance attacking a human. Most other predators don't find the risk of not knowing exactly how it would go to be worth it.
There is a reason that a lot of the people that you see that live or spend a lot of time in the parts of the world that Polar Bears live in don't often go outside without high caliber weapons.
I've studied bears for a while now. There's actually a proven strategy for fighting polar bears. First you dodge to the left, then jump as high as you can and punch them in the eye. By the time they realize what's happened, it'll all be over and you'll be opening your eyes, hoping you prayed to the right god
You're finally awake !
I will say, those bears represent the upper end of the ‘weight ranges’ for those 3 species. Average sizes would be a bit less.
I think the artist took some creative liberties with this. I'm not sure exactly how big a polar bear or a grizzly is, but that black bear is freaking huge!
I guess that I could imagine one getting that big, but that has to be the absolute max of an absolute unit of a black bear. The John Henry of black bears.
According to Wikipedia the largest on record was over 7ft tall, they don't have average heights listed but some other BS site said they range from 4-6.5 ft so it's large but apparently not too incredibly so.
I think the sizes shown are probably biggest specimen. Black bears can get pretty big, but I've never encountered one that was taller than me.
guess I'm never going to Arctic ~~Antarctica~~!
FTFY.
Sorry it's the inner nerd in me!
Theyre pretty much the very top of the food chain. They say there are multiple apexes because of different environments but id bet on a polar bear over a tiger or lion probably. Idk if its an accurate assesment tho.
Imo, the ladder goes:
Rest of the terrestrial animal kingdom < Bengal Tigers < Polar Bears < Hippos < Rhinos < Elephants < Honey Badger.
That's as far as the ratio of animal capability to fuck something up divided by willingness to kick something else's ass goes.
I actually think the Tiger and the Polar Bear are fairly close in terms of power and lethality, and it would all come down to whether the Tiger had the opportunity to stalk, which it probably would avoid doing anyways to something the size of a Polar Bear.
I still do not know where Honey Badger rightfully belongs on Earth's tourney ladders, so I rather err on the side of caution there in case one reads this.
Ah, the North Pole. The furthest point from Polar Bear- (Dramatic Polar Bear backflip attack)
Cave bears used to make polar bears look small.