Bear attacks
Encyclopedia
A bear attack is an attack by any mammal of the Ursidae family, on another animal, although it usually refers to bears attacking humans or domestic pets. Bear attacks are relatively rare, but frequent enough to be of concern for those who are in bear habitats. Bear attacks can be fatal and often hikers, hunters, fisherman, and others in bear country take precautions against bear attacks.
According to Taylor Y. Cardall MD and Peter Rosen MD, in their article "Grizzly Bear Attack" published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, there were 162 bear-inflicted injuries reported in the United States between 1900 and 1985. This constitutes approximately two reported bear-inflicted injuries per year. Likewise, Stephen Herrero
, a Canadian biologist, reports that during the 1990s bears killed people in the U.S. and Canada, or around three people a year, as compared to the 15 people killed every year by dog
s. Multiple reports remark that one is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be attacked by a bear when outdoors; around 90 people are killed by lightning each year. However, with the increase in habitat destruction, interactions between bears and humans have increased and one would expect bear attacks to likewise be on the rise.
around 200,000 to 75,000 years ago. There is some evidence of cave bear worship during these early years: between the years 1917 and 1922, Emil Bachler discovered a large stone chest filled with cave bear skulls in the Drachenloch Cave, one of the Wildkirchli
; between 1916 and 1922, Konrad Hormann found narrow niches filled with five cave bear skulls. However, at these sites, there have been little evidence of any human presence, and so some scientists have come to regard such discoveries as the result of some natural cause.
Ward and Kynaston go on to report that Cro-Magnon
humans, who first appeared nearly 35,000 years ago, show more obvious evidence of cave bear worship in the forms of paintings, sculptures, and engravings; however, there is still some doubt as to whether these works specifically depict the cave bear or the European brown bear.
In the 1900s, bear populations had been decreasing because of increased hunting of bears for sustenance (done mostly by native peoples such as the Inupiat of Alaska and the Inuvialuit
of Canada) and for trophy prizes. Polar bear skins became popular as a sign of wealth and prestige, especially in Europe during the Victorian era. Panda bear pelts were also highly valued, priced at around 176,000 U.S. dollars.
More recently, laws have been instated to protect the dwindling populations of bears; however, as stated in Return of the Grizzly by David Whitman, these laws have increased the tensions between bears and humans. While this allows bear populations to recuperate, it also prevents people from killing bears that have invaded their property and killed their livestock.
in his Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, 23 people were killed by black bears from 1900 to 1980. The number of black bear attacks on humans is higher than those of brown bears, though this is largely because the black species outnumbers the brown rather than their being more aggressive. Compared to brown bear attacks, violent encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious injury. However, the majority of black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality, and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike grizzlies, female black bears do not display the same level of protectiveness to their cubs, and will seldom attack humans in their vicinity. The worst recorded fatality incident occurred in May 1978, in which a black bear killed three teenagers whilst fishing in Algonquin Park in Canada. The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had become habituated
to human contact and food. 1028 incidences of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury, were recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
, and occurred mainly in tourist hotspots, where people regularly fed the bears handouts.
A Dr. E. T. Vere of Srinagar
, Kashmir
wrote of how his hospital received dozens of black bear victims annually. He wrote that, when attacking humans, black bears will rear up on their hind legs and knock victims over with their paws. They then make one or two bites on an arm or leg and finish with a snap to the head, this being the most dangerous part of the attack. There are no records of predation on humans by Asiatic black bears in Russia and no conflicts have been documented in Taiwan. However, in India, attacks on humans have been increasing yearly and have occurred largely in the northwestern and western Himalayan region. In the Chamba District
of Himachal Pradesh
, the number of black bear attacks on humans have gradually increased from 10 in 1988–89 to 21 in 1991–92. Recent bear attacks on humans have been reported from Junbesi and Langtang National Park in Nepal, and occurred in villages as well as in the surrounding forest. Li Guoxing, the second person in history to have received a facial transplant, was a victim of a black bear attack. Nine people were killed by black bears in Japan between 1979–1989, and more recently, in September 2009 it was reported that a black bear attacked a group of tourists, seriously injuring four, while they were waiting at a bus station in the built-up area of Takayama, Gifu in central Japan. The majority of attacks tend to occur when black bears are encountered suddenly, and in close quarters. Because of this, black bears are generally considered more dangerous than sympatric brown bears, which live in more open spaces and are thus less likely to be surprised by approaching humans. They are also likely to attack when protecting food.
s seldom attack humans on sight, and usually avoid people. They are however unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened. Sows with cubs account for the majority of injuries and fatalities in North America. Habituated
or food conditioned bears can also be dangerous, as their long-term exposure to humans causes them to lose their natural shyness, and in some cases associate humans with food. Small parties of one or two people are more often attacked than large groups, with no attacks being recorded against parties of seven people or more. In contrast to injuries caused by American black bears, which are usually minor, brown bear attacks tend to result in serious injury and in some cases death. In the majority of attacks resulting in injury, brown bears precede the attack with a growl or huffing sound, and seem to confront humans as they would when fighting other bears: they rise up on their hind legs, and attempt to "disarm" their victims by biting and holding on to the lower jaw to avoid being bitten in turn. Such a bite can be as severe as that of a tiger, with some human victims having had their heads completely crushed by a bear bite. Most attacks occur in the months of July, August and September, the time when the number of outdoor recreationalists, such as hikers or hunters, is higher. People who assert their presence through noises tend to be less vulnerable, as they alert bears to their presence. In direct confrontations, people who run are statistically more likely to be attacked than those who stand their ground. Violent encounters with brown bears usually last only a few minutes, though they can be prolonged if the victims fight back.
Attacks on humans are considered extremely rare in the former Soviet Union, though exceptions exist in districts where they are not pursued by hunters. East Siberian Brown Bears for example tend to be much bolder toward humans than their shyer, more persecuted European counterparts
. In 2008, a platinum
mining compound in the Olyotorsky district of northern Kamchatka was besieged by a group of 30 Kamchatka Brown Bear
s that killed two guards and prevented workers from leaving their homes. In Scandinavia, only three fatal attacks were recorded in the 20th century.
Native American
tribes sympatric to grizzly bear
s often viewed them with a mixture of awe and fear. North American brown bears were so feared by the Natives that they were rarely hunted, especially alone. When Natives hunted grizzlies, the act was done with the same preparation and ceremoniality as inter-tribal warfare, and was never done except with a company of 4-10 warriors. The tribe members who dealt the killing blow were highly esteemed among their compatriots. Californian Indians actively avoided prime bear habitat, and would not allow their young men to hunt alone, for fear of bear attacks. During the Spanish colonial period, some tribes, instead of hunting grizzlies themselves, would seek aid from European colonists to deal with problem bears. Many authors in the American west wrote of Natives or voyagers were seen with lacerated faces and missing noses or eyes due to attacks from grizzlies. Within Yellowstone National Park, injuries caused by grizzly attacks in developed areas averaged approximately 1 per year during the 1930s through to the 1950s, though it increased to 4 per year during the 1960s. They then decreased to 1 injury every 2 years (0.5/year) during the 1970s. Between 1980-2002, there have been only 2 grizzly bear-caused human injuries in a developed area. However, although grizzly attacks were rare in the back-country before 1970, the number of attacks increased to an average of approximately 1 per year during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
and Burma, sloth bear
s are more feared than tigers, due to their unpredictable temperament. In Madhya Pradesh
, sloth bear attacks accounted for the deaths of 48 people and the injuring of 686 others between the years 1989 and 1994, probably due in part to the density of population and competition for food sources. One specimen, known as the Sloth bear of Mysore
, was single-handedly responsible for the deaths of 12 people and the mutilation of 2 dozen others before being shot by Kenneth Anderson
. Sloth bears defend themselves when surprised, with the majority of confrontations occurring at night. They typically charge on all fours with their head held low, before rearing on their hind legs and striking at their attackers with their claws and teeth.
Grizzly bears can bring down prey, such as bison
or moose
, that outweigh the bear by several hundred pounds and can kill a horse
with a single blow using their paws. Their top speed whilst running on all fours has been reported to be around 40 mph; comparably, the fastest human alive is currently Usain Bolt
, who ran at a peak speed of 27 mph (12 m/s) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
. Most people are incapable of reaching speeds even remotely close to this number; thus, it is impossible for a human to outrun a bear.
Humans in contrast have thirty-two teeth, sixteen on each jaw, each tooth less than a half-inch long. Of these teeth, there are four incisors, two canines, four premolars, and six molars. While human incisors are capable of biting into meat, bears have more powerful jaw muscles which make their bite more destructive to flesh. More appropriate comparisons to bear dentition are to those of dogs whose teeth are similar in proportion to those of bears (and of course much smaller, although capable of inflicting much damage even at their smaller size).
Bears' sense of smell is dependent on a Jacobson's organ, or vomeronasal organ
, which allows the bear to easily detect airborne scents. Bears use this sense of smell not only to hunt, but to detect other bears as well; male bears use smell to stay away from other male bears and to find female bears during mating season. Bears have the ability to climb faster than they can run when in pursuit. While humans have a sense of olfaction, or smell, they do not use it for communication or for hunting; its usual range is around 10 square centimeters as compared to a polar bear that can smell a seal from twenty miles away.
Little is known about a bear's hearing, but scientists concluded that it is at least as good as a human's. Some scientists believe that bears may even be able to detect ultrasonic sounds as well.
Natural observers believe that most bear species are near-sighted, which allows bears to forage for small objects such as berries. However, bears are also capable of discerning faraway movements which helps them hunt prey. The Kodiak bear, when compared to other species, appears to have vision comparable to a human (not near-sighted). Experiments show that black bears can see color, unlike many mammals. With scientists still working to determine exactly how perceptive bear eyes are, it is difficult to compare bear eyesight with human eyesight.
However, a bear's first reaction upon detecting a human is to run away. Fergus lists a few possible causes for this instinctive reaction, each a speculation or theory based more on intuition rather than physical evidence. Some speculate that bears inherit their cautious nature from thousands of years ago when they had to be wary of larger and more dangerous carnivores. Some believe that bears have come to relate a human presence to firearms, or other weaponry, that they have come to fear. Still others think that hunters tend to target more aggressive bears, thus leaving only the more shy and timid bears to reproduce, creating a population of bears less hostile than before.
Once a bear claims an animal carcass, it becomes very protective of its kill. This becomes a problem when a bear claims a hunter's kill, as the hunter may not wish to kill the bear as well. By avoiding a bear over a carcass, the risk of attack is greatly reduced by around fifty percent.
Recovery from bear attacks depends on the extent of damage, but they often involve long-term medical treatment. As shown in the medical procedure led by Professor Shuzhong Guo, extreme cases of bear attacks have resulted in plastic surgeries and even facial transplants, which have proven very successful, but often take several years.
According to Taylor Y. Cardall MD and Peter Rosen MD, in their article "Grizzly Bear Attack" published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, there were 162 bear-inflicted injuries reported in the United States between 1900 and 1985. This constitutes approximately two reported bear-inflicted injuries per year. Likewise, Stephen Herrero
Stephen Herrero
Stephen Herrero is a Canadian doctor of animal behaviour and ecology, and was a professor at University of Calgary. He is the author of Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, which has been described as "authoritative" and "required reading" on the topic.Herrero was born in San Francisco, and...
, a Canadian biologist, reports that during the 1990s bears killed people in the U.S. and Canada, or around three people a year, as compared to the 15 people killed every year by dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s. Multiple reports remark that one is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be attacked by a bear when outdoors; around 90 people are killed by lightning each year. However, with the increase in habitat destruction, interactions between bears and humans have increased and one would expect bear attacks to likewise be on the rise.
History of human-bear relationships
In Wild Bears of the Worlds, by Paul Ward and Suzanne Kynaston, human contact with bears has existed since the time of the Neanderthals and the European cave bearCave Bear
The cave bear was a species of bear that lived in Europe during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the beginning of the Last Glacial Maximum about 27,500 years ago....
around 200,000 to 75,000 years ago. There is some evidence of cave bear worship during these early years: between the years 1917 and 1922, Emil Bachler discovered a large stone chest filled with cave bear skulls in the Drachenloch Cave, one of the Wildkirchli
Wildkirchli
Wildkirchli is the name of a system of three caves in the Alpstein massif of Appenzell, Switzerland.They are notable for the traces of paleolithic habitation discovered in 1940 by Emil Bächler , dating to ca. 50,000 to 30,000 BP. Even earlier are remnants of cave bears found in the caves, dating...
; between 1916 and 1922, Konrad Hormann found narrow niches filled with five cave bear skulls. However, at these sites, there have been little evidence of any human presence, and so some scientists have come to regard such discoveries as the result of some natural cause.
Ward and Kynaston go on to report that Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
humans, who first appeared nearly 35,000 years ago, show more obvious evidence of cave bear worship in the forms of paintings, sculptures, and engravings; however, there is still some doubt as to whether these works specifically depict the cave bear or the European brown bear.
In the 1900s, bear populations had been decreasing because of increased hunting of bears for sustenance (done mostly by native peoples such as the Inupiat of Alaska and the Inuvialuit
Inuvialuit
The Inuvialuit or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit people who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska...
of Canada) and for trophy prizes. Polar bear skins became popular as a sign of wealth and prestige, especially in Europe during the Victorian era. Panda bear pelts were also highly valued, priced at around 176,000 U.S. dollars.
More recently, laws have been instated to protect the dwindling populations of bears; however, as stated in Return of the Grizzly by David Whitman, these laws have increased the tensions between bears and humans. While this allows bear populations to recuperate, it also prevents people from killing bears that have invaded their property and killed their livestock.
American black bears
Unlike grizzly bears, which became a subject of fearsome legend among the European settlers of North America, black bears were rarely considered overly dangerous, even though they lived in areas where the pioneers had settled. Black bears rarely attack when confronted by humans, and usually limit themselves to making mock charges, emitting blowing noises and swatting the ground with their forepaws. However, according to Stephen HerreroStephen Herrero
Stephen Herrero is a Canadian doctor of animal behaviour and ecology, and was a professor at University of Calgary. He is the author of Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, which has been described as "authoritative" and "required reading" on the topic.Herrero was born in San Francisco, and...
in his Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, 23 people were killed by black bears from 1900 to 1980. The number of black bear attacks on humans is higher than those of brown bears, though this is largely because the black species outnumbers the brown rather than their being more aggressive. Compared to brown bear attacks, violent encounters with black bears rarely lead to serious injury. However, the majority of black bear attacks tend to be motivated by hunger rather than territoriality, and thus victims have a higher probability of surviving by fighting back rather than submitting. Unlike grizzlies, female black bears do not display the same level of protectiveness to their cubs, and will seldom attack humans in their vicinity. The worst recorded fatality incident occurred in May 1978, in which a black bear killed three teenagers whilst fishing in Algonquin Park in Canada. The majority of attacks happened in national parks, usually near campgrounds, where the bears had become habituated
Habituation
Habituation can be defined as a process or as a procedure. As a process it is defined as a decrease in an elicited behavior resulting from the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus...
to human contact and food. 1028 incidences of black bears acting aggressively toward people, 107 of which resulted in injury, were recorded from 1964 to 1976 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North...
, and occurred mainly in tourist hotspots, where people regularly fed the bears handouts.
Asian black bears
Though usually shy and cautious animals, Asian black bears are more aggressive toward humans than the brown bears of Eurasia. According to Brigadier General R.G. Burton:A Dr. E. T. Vere of Srinagar
Srinagar
Srinagar is the summer seasonal capital of Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated in Kashmir Valley and lies on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus. It is one of the largest cities in India not to have a Hindu majority. The city is famous for its gardens, lakes and houseboats...
, Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
wrote of how his hospital received dozens of black bear victims annually. He wrote that, when attacking humans, black bears will rear up on their hind legs and knock victims over with their paws. They then make one or two bites on an arm or leg and finish with a snap to the head, this being the most dangerous part of the attack. There are no records of predation on humans by Asiatic black bears in Russia and no conflicts have been documented in Taiwan. However, in India, attacks on humans have been increasing yearly and have occurred largely in the northwestern and western Himalayan region. In the Chamba District
Chamba district
Chamba is the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, in India, with its headquarters in Chamba town. The towns of Dalhousie and Khajjhiar are popular hill stations and vacation spots for the people from the plains of northern India....
of Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...
, the number of black bear attacks on humans have gradually increased from 10 in 1988–89 to 21 in 1991–92. Recent bear attacks on humans have been reported from Junbesi and Langtang National Park in Nepal, and occurred in villages as well as in the surrounding forest. Li Guoxing, the second person in history to have received a facial transplant, was a victim of a black bear attack. Nine people were killed by black bears in Japan between 1979–1989, and more recently, in September 2009 it was reported that a black bear attacked a group of tourists, seriously injuring four, while they were waiting at a bus station in the built-up area of Takayama, Gifu in central Japan. The majority of attacks tend to occur when black bears are encountered suddenly, and in close quarters. Because of this, black bears are generally considered more dangerous than sympatric brown bears, which live in more open spaces and are thus less likely to be surprised by approaching humans. They are also likely to attack when protecting food.
Brown bears
As a rule, brown bearBrown Bear
The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
s seldom attack humans on sight, and usually avoid people. They are however unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened. Sows with cubs account for the majority of injuries and fatalities in North America. Habituated
Habituation
Habituation can be defined as a process or as a procedure. As a process it is defined as a decrease in an elicited behavior resulting from the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus...
or food conditioned bears can also be dangerous, as their long-term exposure to humans causes them to lose their natural shyness, and in some cases associate humans with food. Small parties of one or two people are more often attacked than large groups, with no attacks being recorded against parties of seven people or more. In contrast to injuries caused by American black bears, which are usually minor, brown bear attacks tend to result in serious injury and in some cases death. In the majority of attacks resulting in injury, brown bears precede the attack with a growl or huffing sound, and seem to confront humans as they would when fighting other bears: they rise up on their hind legs, and attempt to "disarm" their victims by biting and holding on to the lower jaw to avoid being bitten in turn. Such a bite can be as severe as that of a tiger, with some human victims having had their heads completely crushed by a bear bite. Most attacks occur in the months of July, August and September, the time when the number of outdoor recreationalists, such as hikers or hunters, is higher. People who assert their presence through noises tend to be less vulnerable, as they alert bears to their presence. In direct confrontations, people who run are statistically more likely to be attacked than those who stand their ground. Violent encounters with brown bears usually last only a few minutes, though they can be prolonged if the victims fight back.
Attacks on humans are considered extremely rare in the former Soviet Union, though exceptions exist in districts where they are not pursued by hunters. East Siberian Brown Bears for example tend to be much bolder toward humans than their shyer, more persecuted European counterparts
Eurasian Brown Bear
The Eurasian brown bear is a subspecies of brown bear, found across northern Eurasia. The Eurasian brown bear is also known as the common brown bear, European brown bear and colloquially by many other names....
. In 2008, a platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
mining compound in the Olyotorsky district of northern Kamchatka was besieged by a group of 30 Kamchatka Brown Bear
Kamchatka Brown Bear
The Kamchatka brown bear , also known as the Far Eastern brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear, native to the Anadyrsky District, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Karaginskiy Island, the Kuril Islands, the coastal strip west of the Sea of Okhotsk southward to the Stanovoy Range and the Shantar Islands...
s that killed two guards and prevented workers from leaving their homes. In Scandinavia, only three fatal attacks were recorded in the 20th century.
Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribes sympatric to grizzly bear
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
s often viewed them with a mixture of awe and fear. North American brown bears were so feared by the Natives that they were rarely hunted, especially alone. When Natives hunted grizzlies, the act was done with the same preparation and ceremoniality as inter-tribal warfare, and was never done except with a company of 4-10 warriors. The tribe members who dealt the killing blow were highly esteemed among their compatriots. Californian Indians actively avoided prime bear habitat, and would not allow their young men to hunt alone, for fear of bear attacks. During the Spanish colonial period, some tribes, instead of hunting grizzlies themselves, would seek aid from European colonists to deal with problem bears. Many authors in the American west wrote of Natives or voyagers were seen with lacerated faces and missing noses or eyes due to attacks from grizzlies. Within Yellowstone National Park, injuries caused by grizzly attacks in developed areas averaged approximately 1 per year during the 1930s through to the 1950s, though it increased to 4 per year during the 1960s. They then decreased to 1 injury every 2 years (0.5/year) during the 1970s. Between 1980-2002, there have been only 2 grizzly bear-caused human injuries in a developed area. However, although grizzly attacks were rare in the back-country before 1970, the number of attacks increased to an average of approximately 1 per year during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Sloth bears
In some areas of IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Burma, sloth bear
Sloth Bear
The sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...
s are more feared than tigers, due to their unpredictable temperament. In Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, sloth bear attacks accounted for the deaths of 48 people and the injuring of 686 others between the years 1989 and 1994, probably due in part to the density of population and competition for food sources. One specimen, known as the Sloth bear of Mysore
Sloth bear of Mysore
The Sloth bear of Mysore was an unusually aggressive Indian sloth bear responsible for the deaths of at least 12 people, and the mauling of two dozen others. It was killed by Kenneth Anderson, who described it in his memoirs Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers:...
, was single-handedly responsible for the deaths of 12 people and the mutilation of 2 dozen others before being shot by Kenneth Anderson
Kenneth Anderson (writer)
Kenneth Anderson was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.- Background :...
. Sloth bears defend themselves when surprised, with the majority of confrontations occurring at night. They typically charge on all fours with their head held low, before rearing on their hind legs and striking at their attackers with their claws and teeth.
Natural weapons: human versus bear
The various species of bears are well-developed for survival, both for attaining food and defending against predators, including unarmed humans. The different species all have the same general physical characteristics and senses that allow them to adapt to situations that threaten their survival.Fur
A bear's fur is often very thick, and it can function much like armor. In situations between bears and other predators, such as humans, this thick fur acts with the bear's thick skin and layers of fat as a buffer against most physical attacks, sometimes buffering to some extent even against firearms. According to Charles Fergus' Wild Guide: Bears, bear fur is also a source of insulation that allows bears to inhabit almost any habitat, from the hot jungles inhabited by sun bears to the frozen tundra inhabited by polar bears, thus occupying most of the same territory as man.Muscle
The bear's entire muscular structure is suited for strength and power. Polar bears are known to swim for miles in search of food and to scoop 500-pound seals out of the water. Few people in the world weigh near 500 pounds and few people can lift 500, let alone scoop a 500-pound object covered in slippery skin out of water at or near freezing temperatures. A better analogue to a bear for muscle for its size is a dog, an animal stronger than humans per unit of weight and never bred to sizes of an adult black bear.Grizzly bears can bring down prey, such as bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
or moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
, that outweigh the bear by several hundred pounds and can kill a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
with a single blow using their paws. Their top speed whilst running on all fours has been reported to be around 40 mph; comparably, the fastest human alive is currently Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay...
, who ran at a peak speed of 27 mph (12 m/s) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. Most people are incapable of reaching speeds even remotely close to this number; thus, it is impossible for a human to outrun a bear.
Claws
Bears have five digits on each dextrous paw, each digit with a long non-retractable claw. The shape of the claw differs between the bear species: black bear claws are strong and curved, which allows them to claw at tree bark; grizzly bear claws are long and straight, ideal for digging, and can be up to six inches long; polar bear claws are thick and sharp for holding the slippery skins of seals.Jaws
The jaws of a bear reflect its omnivorous eating habits. A bear has forty-two teeth, with canines up to 1½ inches long. While a bear's canines can pierce flesh and tear meat, a bear's back teeth are relatively flat, better suited for eating plants rather than meat. However, the jaws of bears are controlled by large muscles that are capable of crushing bones, which gives access to the nutritious marrow within. Some grizzly bears have jaws that can bite through 6 inches (152.4 mm) pine trees.Humans in contrast have thirty-two teeth, sixteen on each jaw, each tooth less than a half-inch long. Of these teeth, there are four incisors, two canines, four premolars, and six molars. While human incisors are capable of biting into meat, bears have more powerful jaw muscles which make their bite more destructive to flesh. More appropriate comparisons to bear dentition are to those of dogs whose teeth are similar in proportion to those of bears (and of course much smaller, although capable of inflicting much damage even at their smaller size).
Other senses and characteristics
Bears' senses are likely similar to those of dogs, animals which at times have much the same build and dietary habits of bears.Bears' sense of smell is dependent on a Jacobson's organ, or vomeronasal organ
Vomeronasal organ
The vomeronasal organ , or Jacobson's organ, is an auxiliary olfactory sense organ that is found in many animals. It was discovered by Frederik Ruysch and later by Ludwig Jacobson in 1813....
, which allows the bear to easily detect airborne scents. Bears use this sense of smell not only to hunt, but to detect other bears as well; male bears use smell to stay away from other male bears and to find female bears during mating season. Bears have the ability to climb faster than they can run when in pursuit. While humans have a sense of olfaction, or smell, they do not use it for communication or for hunting; its usual range is around 10 square centimeters as compared to a polar bear that can smell a seal from twenty miles away.
Little is known about a bear's hearing, but scientists concluded that it is at least as good as a human's. Some scientists believe that bears may even be able to detect ultrasonic sounds as well.
Natural observers believe that most bear species are near-sighted, which allows bears to forage for small objects such as berries. However, bears are also capable of discerning faraway movements which helps them hunt prey. The Kodiak bear, when compared to other species, appears to have vision comparable to a human (not near-sighted). Experiments show that black bears can see color, unlike many mammals. With scientists still working to determine exactly how perceptive bear eyes are, it is difficult to compare bear eyesight with human eyesight.
Causes of bear attacks
Almost all recorded bear attacks in the wild have resulted from the human surprising the bear. Hunters are the people most at risk of bear attacks because, as Tom Smith, a U.S. Geographical Survey research biologist, describes, "Hunters typically aren't making any noise, and they sleuth around while wearing camo." This description is somewhat stereotypical, but essentially true. Hunters try to be silent and, though many hunters wear reflective clothing so as not to become targets for other hunters, they try to hide their movements so as not to startle game. Most bear attacks result from hunters suddenly appearing in front of them, startling a bear into an instinctive act of aggression.However, a bear's first reaction upon detecting a human is to run away. Fergus lists a few possible causes for this instinctive reaction, each a speculation or theory based more on intuition rather than physical evidence. Some speculate that bears inherit their cautious nature from thousands of years ago when they had to be wary of larger and more dangerous carnivores. Some believe that bears have come to relate a human presence to firearms, or other weaponry, that they have come to fear. Still others think that hunters tend to target more aggressive bears, thus leaving only the more shy and timid bears to reproduce, creating a population of bears less hostile than before.
Protecting young
One of the most dangerous situations that lead to bear attacks is when a bear perceives a threat to her offspring. Female bears are very defensive of their young, devoting years of their life just to raise their cubs and teach them to hunt. While solo bears will usually retreat, a mother bear protecting her cubs is mostly likely to attack any sudden threat. Black bears present something of an exception to this, however, as mother black bears sometimes urge their cubs to climb trees for safety instead of remaining on the ground to protect their young.Hunger
Another dangerous situation is when a human is faced with a hungry bear who has lost his natural fear of humans. With the decrease of hunting grounds and food crops such as berries and bark, bears often become more desperate and aggressive. However, this hunger has also triggered an unexpected reaction: bears began to follow gunshots because they realized that gunshots often result in dead animals that they can eat.Once a bear claims an animal carcass, it becomes very protective of its kill. This becomes a problem when a bear claims a hunter's kill, as the hunter may not wish to kill the bear as well. By avoiding a bear over a carcass, the risk of attack is greatly reduced by around fifty percent.
Recovery from bear attacks
Aside from the large lacerations and wounds that can result from bear attacks, infections are also physically detrimental. A bear's mouth is extremely foul, especially if the bear has been feeding on a gut pile or feces. Bear bites can result in gangrene, the rotting of flesh which can spread six inches an hour, or crepitus, the grinding of the two sides of a broken bone fracture.Recovery from bear attacks depends on the extent of damage, but they often involve long-term medical treatment. As shown in the medical procedure led by Professor Shuzhong Guo, extreme cases of bear attacks have resulted in plastic surgeries and even facial transplants, which have proven very successful, but often take several years.
See also
- List of fatal bear attacks in North America
- Sloth bear of MysoreSloth bear of MysoreThe Sloth bear of Mysore was an unusually aggressive Indian sloth bear responsible for the deaths of at least 12 people, and the mauling of two dozen others. It was killed by Kenneth Anderson, who described it in his memoirs Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers:...
- Sankebetsu brown bear incidentSankebetsu brown bear incidentThe , also referred to as the or the was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan....
- Bear dangerBear dangerBear danger is the risk encountered by humans and their pets or livestock when interacting with bears.Although most bears are alpha predators in their own habitat, most do not, under normal circumstances, hunt and feed on humans. Most bear attacks occur when the animal is defending itself against...
- Timothy TreadwellTimothy TreadwellTimothy Treadwell was an American bear enthusiast, environmentalist, amateur naturalist, eco-warrior and documentary film maker. He lived among the coastal grizzly bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska, USA, for approximately 13 summers...
- Binky (polar bear)Binky (polar bear)Binky was a polar bear who lived at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Found as an orphan on Alaska's North Slope, he was taken to the zoo and quickly became one of its most popular attractions. He became a local hero and received international news coverage after mauling two zoo visitors in separate...
Sources
- Anitei, Stefan. "The Limits of the Human Nose: How much can a human smell?" Softpedia. 22 January 2007. 17 November 2008
- Batin, Christopher. "Bear Attacks!" Outdoor Life 210.6 (2003): 46.
- Brandt, Anthony. "Attack." Outdoor Life 197.1 (1996): 52.
- Cardall, Taylor Y. and Peter Rosen. "Grizzly Bear Attack." Journal of Emergency Medicine 24.3 (2003): 331-333.
- "Death Statistics Comparison." UnitedJustice.com. 7 December 2008. 7 December 2008
- Driscoll, Jamus. "Bears on the Rampage." Outdoor Life 197.2 (1996): 20.
- Fergus, Charles. Wild Guide: Bears. Mechanisburg, PA; Stackpole Books, 2005.
- Guo, Shuzhong, et al. "Human facial allotransplantation: a 2-year follow-up study." The Lancet 372.9639 (2008): 631-638.
- Masterson, Linda. Living with Bears. Masonville, CO; PixyJack Press, LLC, 2006.
- Simmons, Shraga. "Olympic Champions." aish.com 22 August 2004. 17 November 2008
- "Teeth." The Internet Encyclopedia of Science: Anatomy & Physiology. 17 November 2008
- Ward, Paul and Suzanne Kynaston. Wild Bears of the World. United Kingdom: Cassell plc, 1995.
- Whitman, David. "The Return of the Grizzly." Atlantic Monthly 286.3 (2000): 26-31.