In early December, the Thomas Fire erupted in Southern California. By the time it was fully contained some five weeks later, it had upended the lives of thousands of people. It also affected countless wild animals, including two bears that suffered severe burns on their paws.
I’m a hunter. Not because I hate animals or nature, but because I love them. Two weeks ago, I flew to Washington to shoot a bear with a bow, that was a couple weeks after the whole #CecilTheLion business. And hunting was different, but maybe not for the reasons you’re thinking.
Have you seen that "behind the scenes at National Geographic" photo where those guys are running from a bear? It's pretty amusing. But it's a fake. Super duper, 100 percent fake. So where did it come from?
Scientists working at the National Institutes of Health are usually concerned with problems like infectious disease and brain development. Yesterday, they were concerned with a black bear who found its way onto their campus.
Drew Hamilton, a tech worker at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, was chilling out with a friend, admiring the majestic landscape at the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, when a cool Alaskan brown bear walked into the scene, sat down, and just chilled out for a while contemplating the river.
Mango is a 19 year old male Syrian brown bear who lives at Israel's Ramat Gan Safari Park, a zoo not far from Tel Aviv. Earlier this week, he made veterinary history after undergoing a complex spinal surgery.
This might not be the most aggressive black bear on Earth but these two bulldogs didn't know that when they decided to confront him on a neighbour's lawn. The footage, caught by a surveillance camera, shows the two dogs intimidating the bear right up to the point where he decides to run away. Good job guys!
This is Mango, a 19-year old Syrian brown bear that has been sedated for back surgery due to a slipped disc. Mango is undergoing the procedure—the first of its kind for brown bears—at the Ramat Gan Safari park, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel. Fingers crossed, and get well soon, Mango!
Inspired by the sad story of Bruno the Bear, artist Eiko Ishizawa created this "Great Sleeping Bear" sculpture/sleeping bear. It's stunning — and now it can be yours, because the artist is selling a limited amount of her handmade work.
If Teddy Ruxpin had tried harder to keep up with technology he wouldn't have risen from the grave using proprietary digital cartridges. Instead, he'd have a smartphone dock embedded in his torso like this Japaese Cocolo Bear does.
This little feller is Agriarctos beatrix, which roamed the forests of Spain some eleven million years ago. It represents the earliest known member of the giant panda's evolutionary subfamily, and it was pretty much just ridiculously adorable.
Some people thought that featuring the bizarre history of vibrators was in poor taste for Mother's Day. Poor babies. No worries, here are ten ultra-cute, sugar-coma-inducing bear cubs dancing the conga. Happy Mother's Day!
When bears go to sleep for months at a time, their heart rate, metabolism, and body temperature drop to almost nothing. Despite this, their bodies apparently go into overdrive in other areas, healing wounds so that they're good as new.
Arya Stark wouldn't dare put up posters to look for her lost direwolf Nymeria, not after that incident with Joffrey's arm, but if she thought she could get away with it (and if Sansa was willing to do the illustrations), perhaps her lost wolf poster would be as charming as Maritsa Patrinos'.
Well, humanity had a good run, but now it's over. This bear was recently spotted using a rock as a tool, the first time we've seen such behavior. It's only a matter of time before bears with rayguns show up.
When it comes to skin care, I've long known that I don't put much effort in. But I didn't expect a wild bear to put me to shame, with its fancy-pants use of a stone to keep itself looking good.
Imagine going to sleep for months at a time and then waking up just in time to land on Mars. Hibernation is second nature to bears and other mammals...but there's no reason humans can't do it too.
Pandas. Zoos want them, other bears want to be them (maybe?). But are they really worth all the trouble? Let's fight about it:
Every polar bear alive today shares a common maternal ancestor, and it isn't even a bear from the same species. Their mitochondrial DNA reveals a 100,000 year story of interbreeding and hybridization...and the story is far from over.
