Strange little video on YouTube - wild polar bears playing with dogs

Dan

Well-Known Member
I just happened to discover this two minute video on YouTube and I can´t help but to link to it here at ZooChat:


This is pretty strange, don´t you think?

What the hell is REALLY going on here? Anyone care to comment?
 
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I have heard of this phenomenon before, can't offer much insight. Perhaps the bears understand that the dogs are domesticated and so can have a different / unusual relationship to them?
 
Ah no........, Panthera Puss, that cannot REALLY be the explantion, can it? The polar bears are free living predators -they don´t mind about possible prey being domesticated or not, do they?

OK, obviously the bears in this film has had their fill and are not hungry.

Still - what the hell are we actually seeing in this film? I am extremely puzzled! To me it looks like an anomaly.

Any other comments?
 
The guy narrating talks about the bears knowing the boundaries and how close to get to the humans - is the fact of not killing the dogs an extension of that basic premise? i.e. dogs, bears & humans have some sort of loose social contract in this situation?? I dunno. Animals have depths we'll never really understand, methinks
 
Yes.......but was.nt that just the bears being afraid of the firecrackers he throws at them when they come to close to HIM? Why should the bears associate the dogs with the firecrack-throwing human? And if so - why be afraid of him but play with the dogs?

I am lost but intrigued........

More thoughts?
 
In all my over 54 years in this world, I have never seen Polar Bears behave like this with other than their own species. But strange things happen beyond our own reasoning in this world.
 
I haven't got any sound on the computer I'm on at the moment (so don't know what the commentary is saying) but honestly - from this two minute video - it looks like the bears have been hand-reared
 
I believe I've seen something once or twice (on telly) with polar bears coming close to dogs without any barking or fighting happening, sometimes the bear walks on or stops and watches the dogs for a while but never something on this scale. Its cute and beautiful.
 
I saw a documentry on Poalar bears on a Norwegen island ( it started with S, it is well known place I just carnt remember the name) They filmed the bears playing with the dogs on the chains. The dogs tried to hide in their kennels but the bear just got hold of the chain and pulled them back out. These were defenatly wild bears.
 
So it is not a totally new or unheard of phenomenon, then? Interesting!

To me this behaviour came as a total surprise.
 
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