BEARS IN HISTORY
The original word for 'bear' has been lost. People in the Middle Ages were superstitious and thought saying the animal's name would summon it. They called it 'bear' which means 'the brown one' to avoid saying its actual name.
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| Copyright: Robert F. Tobler |
The baiting of bears was a popular entertainment in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The baited animal was usually tethered to a post or put into a pit, and then attacked by dogs. Betting took place on the performance of individual dogs. The London theatres of the time had the form of an enclosed ring perfectly suited to animal baiting. The baiting of animals was not banned by law in Britain until 1835, but it was carried on in private for at least another 50 years.
English romantic poet Lord Byron kept a pet bear in his rooms at Cambridge, because he was not allowed a dog.
During World War I, a Canadian soldier made a black bear his pet and named her Winnipeg after his hometown. The soldier left Winnie with London Zoo where she was an adored attraction, including to a boy named Christopher Robin. The boy even named his teddy bear after her and "Pooh" was added as the name he gave to a swan.
Legendary American college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant earned his nickname by agreeing to wrestle a bear for $1 at a carnival when he was 13 years old. The bear bit his ear, and the carnival never paid him $1.
In April 2001, there were estimated to be fewer than 1,000 grizzly bears in the wild.
Winnie The Pooh's real name is Edward The Bear.
Smokey the Bear is based off an orphan bear rescued from a New Mexico wildfire in 1950.
A bear named Wojtek (see below) was officially drafted as a private in the Polish army during the Second World War. Originally a mascot, he lived with other soldiers in their tents, and helped at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy by transporting ammunition. After the war, Wojtek retired to Edinburgh Zoo where he would wave at visitors who spoke to him in Polish. He died aged 22 in December 1963. Kraków city council unveiled a statue of Wojtek in Park Jordana on May 18, 2014 - the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino.
Hercules, a trained grizzly bear that disappeared on a Scottish island while being filmed for a Kleenex TV advert, was finally recaptured after 24 days on the run on September 13, 1980.
Juan, an Andean spectacled bear made a bold bid to escape from Berlin zoo in 2004. Juan paddled across a moat using a log as a raft, scaled a wall and then finally appeared to commandeer a bicycle before before zookeepers with brooms cornered him, and a colleague picked him off with a tranquillizer gun.
A bear named Mink that lived in Hanover, New Hampshire was fed birdseed and donuts by an elderly man everyday. When the man died, Mink started venturing out farther into town in search of more delicious treats, officials were forced to relocate her far north, near the Canadian border. But the determined bear walked over a thousand miles back to Hanover.
There are eight species of bear: brown bears, Asian black bears, American black bears, sun bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, polar bears, and giant pandas.
In April 2001, there were estimated to be fewer than 1,000 grizzly bears in the wild.
FAMOUS BEARS
Winnie The Pooh's real name is Edward The Bear.
Smokey the Bear is based off an orphan bear rescued from a New Mexico wildfire in 1950.
A bear named Wojtek (see below) was officially drafted as a private in the Polish army during the Second World War. Originally a mascot, he lived with other soldiers in their tents, and helped at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy by transporting ammunition. After the war, Wojtek retired to Edinburgh Zoo where he would wave at visitors who spoke to him in Polish. He died aged 22 in December 1963. Kraków city council unveiled a statue of Wojtek in Park Jordana on May 18, 2014 - the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino.
Hercules, a trained grizzly bear that disappeared on a Scottish island while being filmed for a Kleenex TV advert, was finally recaptured after 24 days on the run on September 13, 1980.
Juan, an Andean spectacled bear made a bold bid to escape from Berlin zoo in 2004. Juan paddled across a moat using a log as a raft, scaled a wall and then finally appeared to commandeer a bicycle before before zookeepers with brooms cornered him, and a colleague picked him off with a tranquillizer gun.
A bear named Mink that lived in Hanover, New Hampshire was fed birdseed and donuts by an elderly man everyday. When the man died, Mink started venturing out farther into town in search of more delicious treats, officials were forced to relocate her far north, near the Canadian border. But the determined bear walked over a thousand miles back to Hanover.
FUN BEAR FACTS
There are eight species of bear: brown bears, Asian black bears, American black bears, sun bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, polar bears, and giant pandas.
The giant panda is the only species of bear that does not move its ears to pick up sound.
The Andean bear, the inspiration for Paddington Bear, is the only bear native to South America.
A male bear is a boar; a female is a sow.
A group of bears is called a sleuth or sloth.
We call many things "bears" that aren't actually bears. Red pandas are "bear-cats" in Nepal, for example, and koalas are sometimes erroneously referred to as "koala bears."
Bears live in dens.
Bears are considered by many wildlife biologists to be one of the most intelligent land animals of North America. They have the largest relative brain size of any carnivore, and a study has found that black bears can count just as well as primates.
Grizzly bears can remember the faces of other bears they have not seen for ten years or more.
Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears can mate. Their offspring are referred to as "Pizzlies" and "Grolar Bears."
The smallest bear is the Malaysian sun bear, rarely more than 4 feet (122cms) long, a good climber, whose favorite food is honey.
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| Malaysian Sun Bear Flickr |
Some bears in Russia are hooked on jet fuel because of the leftover kerosene and gasoline containers in far-east regions.
Bears have 42 teeth.
A full-grown black bear can run as fast as a horse.
Bears have the best sense of smell of any animal on Earth. It is thought to be about 2,100-3,000 times better than a human’s and 100 times better than your dog, They have been known to catch scents from up to 20 miles (32 kms) away.
Though bears are classified as carnivores, most are omnivorous and the panda is almost entirely vegetarian.
Black Bears eat pine needles and hair to get stuck in their system on purpose. It forms up to a 30 cm (1 ft) long anal plug that holds the food in them all winter, then they poop it out in the spring.
Though bears are classified as carnivores, most are omnivorous and the panda is almost entirely vegetarian.
Black Bears eat pine needles and hair to get stuck in their system on purpose. It forms up to a 30 cm (1 ft) long anal plug that holds the food in them all winter, then they poop it out in the spring.
Bears do not urinate while they hibernate. Their bodies convert urine into protein and use it as food.
A pregnant American black bear can give birth without ever emerging from hibernation. She doesn’t even need to rouse herself to care for her young, instead she can nurse her cubs for months by drawing from her reserves of stored fat.
A pregnant American black bear can give birth without ever emerging from hibernation. She doesn’t even need to rouse herself to care for her young, instead she can nurse her cubs for months by drawing from her reserves of stored fat.
The US National Park Service put out a set of guidelines to avoid being attacked by a bear, such as moving sideways away from the bear and vocalizing to identify yourself as a human. They also advised: “Do NOT push down a slower friend (even if you think the friendship has run its course)."
The black bear is not always black. It can be brown, cinnamon, yellow, and sometimes a bluish color.
The black bear is not always black. It can be brown, cinnamon, yellow, and sometimes a bluish color.
In the US, it is legal to own a brown bear in nine states.
No bears are native to the continent of Australia. Koalas aren't bears, they are marsupials.
Sources History World, Greatfacts.com, Daily Express
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