The Retriever, Dog, & Wildlife Blog

Posted in Carnivorans, wildlife | Tagged bearded seal, polar bear | 4 Comments

4 Responses

1. on October 19, 2012 at 11:10 pm | Reply Suhail

   Shucks! I remembered this footage and felt very sorry for the bear. Polar bears are reported to be perennially hungry due shortage of pray, Hence, when the see humans, they usually attack.

   
   
   • on October 20, 2012 at 10:39 am | Reply massugu

     This is a problem with any specialist species. I’d be interested to know whether Polar Bears’ dentition is skewed more toward hypercarnivory than that of most other bears.

     
     
     • on October 20, 2012 at 10:45 am | Reply retrieverman

       Their dentition is, but I don’t know if their metabolism and digestive system are.

       I’ve thought that the ones that are being forced to move south due the melting sea ice might be able to survive if they started scavenging off of wolves. I can imagine polar bears becoming something like modern-day short-faced bears.

       Wolves have been one of the best things that ever happened to grizzly bears in Yellowstone. Grizzlies have a hard time hunting elk on their own, but wolves do kill them. And when that happens, the bears can drive wolves off their kills and eat until satiated.

       
       
       • on October 20, 2012 at 2:43 pm | Reply massugu

         A budding symbiosis not unlike that which probably occurred between primitive people and wolves do you think? Food for thought.

         
         

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