Bear myths

October 24th, 2008 |
  • Koala bears aren’t really bears — TRUE. Koalas are kangaroos pretending to be bears.
  • Panda bears aren’t really bears — LIE. Well, Giant Pandas are one of the eight species of bear.
  • Black bears only attack when one is between a mother and cubs — This isn’t necessarily true. I’m not saying you should get between a mom and her cubs, but if you want to, it’s up to you; you might survive.
  • Grizzly bears only attack when one is between a mother and her cubs –
  • Sun bears aren’t real — would you believe my wife doesn’t believe in Sun Bears? I’m even going to pump money into a bear charity and she still doesn’t believe!
  • Red pandas are real bears — false. RATS.
  • Honeybears like honey — FALSE. Honeybears ONLY eat meat. They need 100-200 lbs. per day, depending on sex. The name, “honey”, comes from the color of their fur. Few men have ever seen a honeybear.
  • Cheetahs are the fastest animal — see 7.
  • Polar bears are endangered — Socialist drivel. Polar bears can beat anything/one.
  • Grizzly bears are mean — they’re 90% lonely, 10% bored.

    • Posted in Animal Rights, Animal-people interaction, Bear, Grizzly Bear, Honeybear, Panda Bear, Sun Bear, polar bear by arcticaribou | No Comments »

    The Sun Bear

    February 16th, 2008 |

    I’d say of all the bears, the sun bear is my favorite. Smallest of all bears, sun bears range between between about 40-132 pounds and are only about 4′ long [1]. A very short tail adds only about 2″ to the average sun bear.

    Sun bears have funny looking, rounded claws and bare paw-pads to help with climbing. They like to eat ANYTHING including, but not limited to, lizards, eggs, small mammals, other sun bears [2], fruits and other tasty vegetation.

    Fortunately, the worst thing that would generally happen to a sun bear is to be eaten by a tiger or a python. Humans do kill bears for destroying crops and, apparently, there is some poaching, but often humans just use them for pets, which isn’t so bad. Many bears in Southeast Asia have much worse fates at the hands of humans. Would you believe that Asiatic black bears are kept in cages and used for their bile in China and Vietnam [3]? They actually believe that bear bile has healing properties. This behavior is absolutely disgusting. No wonder they embrace communism.

    Here’s sun bears in action:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMT3WRbk_g]

    Sun bears are listed as vulnerable, so we need to keep an eye on them [4].

    [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Bear (all sun bear facts presented here are from this reference)

    [2] Just kidding!

    [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear 

    [4] My fiancee doesn’t actually believe that sun bears exist. I need to spread awareness.

    Posted in Sun Bear by arcticaribou | 2 Comments »