Ah, it's a beautiful day
for a hike in the woods.
There's nothing but the fresh air,
trees and killer bears.
Oh my.
Close encounters with bears
don’t always lead to them attacking you.
There are only about 40 bear attacks
around the world every year,
give or take.
But if you get attacked,
you do get in big trouble.
And each type of bear
could have a different dinner
plan for you.
You could run into a 58 kg (128 lb)
female black bear,
or a 315 kg (700 lb) grizzly bear
with her cubs.
Or, if you’re in the Arctic,
you might face a vicious
590 kg (1,300 lb) polar bear.
Staring up at the gaping jaws of any bear
could be the last thing you see.
Will your next move save your life?
After a peaceful night of camping,
you unzip your tent and find
you’ve made a big mistake.
You’ve left some food out
and now you’ve been graced
with the presence of a dangerous visitor.
It's a black bear.
You gasp and freeze in place,
but don’t worry yet.
Black bears
usually don’t attack
in a sudden encounter.
Mostly, they attack in self-defense.
So don’t get too close.
You slowly step out of the tent
and scoot
a few steps back
to give the bear some space.
But you’re not far enough away.
Now, the bear is showing aggression
with some grunts.
You could run.
But then you’d
have to leave all your stuff behind.
Instead, you spot a nearby tree and think,
"I could climb that and be safe.”
As you dash toward the tree,
the bear is right behind you.
Luckily, you were closest to the tree.
With running speeds
up to 40 km/h (25 mph),
black bears are fast.
You scramble up a few branches
and look down to see
the bear climbing too.
Yep, black bears can climb.
So now you’d be screwed.
When it's close enough
to attack,
the black bear swipes
its massive claws at you.
A black bear's
claws are good for climbing.
But they aren't
that sharp, so it’s the bear's strength
you’d worry about.
Black bears can move
boulders weighing
140 kg (309 lb) with one paw.
And one swipe from this bear
knocks you down to the ground.
Ouch.
Your surging adrenaline helps
you spring up.
While the bear is still in the tree,
it's time to make a run for it.
You'd sprint down the trail
until you couldn’t run anymore.
You need to stop and catch your breath.
But what's that dreadful crunching sound?
Turning around slowly, you freeze.
Oh no.
It's a grizzly bear with two cubs.
The momma bear begins rubbing
her body on a nearby tree.
Is she just scratching an itch?
Not quite.
She lets out a loud growl.
You realize that you’ve surprised
her, and she’s being aggressive
to protect her cubs.
But you wouldn’t have much time
to react.
This opportunistic hunter charges
toward you at a blazing
64 km/h ( 40 mph).
You make a quick evasive move,
but the bear swings
one of its claws at you.
A grizzly's claws aren’t razor-sharp
since the bear uses them to dig.
But they're strong, and one hit knocks
you down hard.
The grizzly is on top of you,
and its body weight keeps you pinned.
Its massive
jaws are about to clamp down on you
with a force of 8,274 kPa (1,200 PSI).
You think you're done for,
and you might be right.
The best
thing you could do now is to play dead.
It's a terrifying gamble,
but it would be your best shot at surviving.
The bear would sniff and slobber
all over you,
each movement of its paws
digging deeper into your body.
But it works.
Momma grizzly
walks back over to her cubs.
And you're completely motionless
until you hear the bears
crawling off into the distance.
Whew.
You scramble to your feet
and run back to your car.
Finally, you're safe.
You survived.
Not so fast.
There’s one more type of bear
to worry about.
And it has been stalking and hunting you
for prey.
It's a male polar bear.
Wait, what?
Aaaaaahh.
A polar bear follows
its prey
using its exceptional sense of smell.
So now you won’t be able to hide.
And you left your car key
with the rest of your gear
at the campsite.
After a day of bear attacks,
this would be the end of the line.
One swipe from the bear's
9.5 cm (3.75 in) claws
can snap your spine.
Then, it would feast on you.
As your life drains out of you,
you’d suddenly realize something.
Polar bears are supposed to roam
the icy polar deserts
in the Arctic Circle.
That’s definitely not
where you went camping.
As you snap out of this traumatic fantasy,
you have to face reality
as a pair of day hikers
step out of their car
and find you in your dirty pajamas.
But at least you weren’t attacked
by other creatures.
Like murder hornets.
That would be a story
for another WHAT IF.