Don't polar bears usually eat dogs?

[Eos]

Originally posted by: zoiks
Its only humans that would consider behavior like that 'cute' since it might be indifferent to the animals themselves. Though, it's obvious that the bear is playing with the dog since we don't see any sign of carnage. Definitely the pictures shown are 'choice' pictures delivered to arouse human reaction to 'cuteness'.

Liberals, eh? Just can't get away from 'em.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
cool, i'm gonna go play with a polar bear. i'll have pics for you guys of the polar bear hugging me.

:thumbsup:

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: Trey22
Coolio...

Yes?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Most carnivores that hunt are specialty killers. Polar bears primarily hunt seals and thus an animal like a dog would be off the menu unless this polar bear was down on its luck in hunting and hungry, then anything is game. Of course that's the way it is with most bears. As Grizzly Man showed us all, even the grizzlies don't care about humans at all as long as they can find plenty of their natural food (the bear that ended up killing him was old and going hungry).

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: dug777
I remain convinced many animals subscribe pretty closely to our ideas of 'playing', and given our origins I don't think it's such a leap

I agree.

I find it lame when I see people claiming that imposing human values on animals is necessarily wrong. I think they're the ones who are short sighted, since our instincts are not unlike the instincts other animals have.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: azazyel

Originally posted by: Mucho

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Polar bears are one of the only animals that will actively hunt and kill a human.

The was a PhD in biology speaking on the matter on the discovery channel the other day. He said "you dont really have to outrun the polar bear, you just have to outrun the intern".

I am sure I read somewhere Grizzlies will hunt human even climb up trees to get them.

From what I've heard the Grizzlies are more likely to leave you alone, the black bears will hunt you.

That's not true...black bears usually run.

Originally posted by: zoiks
Its only humans that would consider behavior like that 'cute' since it might be indifferent to the animals themselves. Though, it's obvious that the bear is playing with the dog since we don't see any sign of carnage. Definitely the pictures shown are 'choice' pictures delivered to arouse human reaction to 'cuteness'.

Do you think humans are some sort of aliens? Where do you think the "cute" response arises from?

There was that video of a young leopard that "adopted" a baby baboon after killing its mother. Obviously it didn't last, but the only explanation I can think of is that it triggered maternal instincts...which are strongly dependent on the "cute" factor.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Polar bear spends play time with sled dogs

I wonder what the dogs were thinking when the bear first approached them?

Cue all the Snopes haters in 5... 4... 3...

they didn't show us the bloodied, dead sleddog pics.

actually, i read your snopes link and it says that it can't be determined from those pics if the bear and the dog were actually "playing".

That's because some people are morons.

Those who claim that anthropomorphism is always wrong are themselves making the faulty assumption that humans are somehow above instinct and that we're not driven by them; they won't consider that the emotions that we feel are simply what it feels like to be driven by those instincts.

They'll look at lovebirds or other monogamous animals and claim "that's not love, that's just a survival mechanism that most efficiently ensures that their young will be raised", all the while living in their house with their wife and kids around and having the fact escape them that they're really just doing the same thing, bound by the same forces of nature.

Or, they'll say that seeing animals interacting with other animals isn't play, it's just some sort of survival mechanism, all the while ignoring the possibility that animals get pleasure from satisfying their curiosity just like we do.

Or they'll say that when an animal runs from you it's not really fear that's driving them, it's just the simple fact that those that avoid danger tend to pass their genes on more often than those that don't.

The only difference is that we objectively observe the behavior of other animals, while we try to justify our own consciousness on more glorified terms.