Polar bears eat anything and everything. Those cutesy polar bear videos you see are captured on long telephoto lenses. The photographers are behind fences and protected with 12ga shotguns with specialized bear slugs.
Stay away from the f***ing wild animals. I’ve seen tourists in Yellowstone approaching moose with their cameras. Do not do this. Bison are worse than moose. You read about tourists getting killed in Yellowstone every so often. Polar bears are vastly worse and if they see you they will kill you. This ain’t a Disney movie.
Bison might be worse than Moose, but Moose will bite your sister.
Canadian F-18s were equipped with a folding stock short barrel Ruger M-77 iron sight bolt rifle in 30-06. If a plane goes down up there far north, every polar bear within 20 miles notices and just starts walking towards the site. It’s a race between rescue helicopters, and a polar bear patiently walking towards his prey.
Another charming polar bear behavior is if they find a hole in the ice, they just lay there and patiently wait, knowing that eventually something will pop up out of that hole. They do the same thing with scientific sites. They are absolutely certain that they are full of people, and occasionally people come out. They will wait as long as it takes for that moment. It’s pretty terrifying.
I blame Disney for a lot of the stupidity that happens in human - wild animal interaction.
Buffalo.
It’s OK to call them Buffalo. You’re among friends here.
Indeed - polar bears aren’t like any other kind - they view EVERYTHING that moves as potential prey/snack. There are no other alternatives available.
Plus, they’re one of the largest bears on the planet, rivaling Kodiaks - if they can get to you, you’re dead.
Polar Bears live in a harsh environment and must eat anything and everything to survive. They bear humans no animus. To them we are just food.
Jim Fowler of Mutual of Omaha fame listed them as one of the most dangerous predators to man because they will hunt and kill a person. He also listed hippos and crocs.
I almost got punched by a guy who took offense to me telling him he should get his 5 year old a little more than 20 feet away from a 8 foot alligator. I was like ok, I’ll get the popcorn.
Amen to the bison comment.
In the 80’s (I live just north of YNP) a French photographer gave his camera to another tourist so he could take a photo of Mr. Frenchie next to a bison.
The photo, slightly blurry, was of the bison removing the Frenchman’s head (which travelled 30+ feet).