October 19, 2007: Polar bear and the husky
 

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog01.jpg

No fewer than four of you sent this along, so although Snopes says it was collected in 2006, and confirms that it happened and was published last year, sometimes it takes a while for something to catch on, on the net.

Photographer Norbert Rosing was out on a photo session with these dogs, in the middle of nowhere, Hudson Bay in northern Canada - when a 1200 pound polar bear appeared on the scene.

But incredibly, the outcome wasn't an eaten dog. It was a half-hour session of... play.

Stuart Brown narrates a slide show of the event, in which he interprets the gestures of both animals as signals to play; the dog's mouth without fangs, the bear's ears back.

Snopes is, as Snopes must always be, a little skeptical that this was play - but dog owners have seen this sort of thing before in their dogs, and hey, if a polar bear is hungry and wants to eat, let's admit it, the dog is probably toast.

But the slideshow says the bear returned every night for a week to play again. I for one am encouraged to believe it was play; the modern dog, even the husky, is play-oriented. And why shouldn't the bear get something out of it? He's not going to be concerned for his safety, so why not the occasional social move?

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog02.jpg

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog03.jpg

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog04.jpg

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog05.jpg

http://cellar.org/2007/polardog06.jpg

Without wanting to be guilty of anthromorphosis - that's play damnit!

That's incredibly cute! :love:

there is a distinct lack of red snow in the vicinity. says play quite obviously.


ps....i wish i knew what accidental combination of keys leads to my replying to a thread halfway through typing it out.

Thumb drifting over laptop mousepad accidentally moves cursor to the Submit Reply button, then you hit enter to end a paragraph and it posts?

I had to join just for this.

Its absolutely adorable

I want to play with a polar bear!

(Why do I feel like the outcome would be different?)

polar bears are amazing. For all their ferocity, which from all accounts is pretty genuine, they have a lot of play in them too. I've seen videos of them playing with stuff before.

desktop. something to do with the tab button, i think.....or maybe ctrl when i go for a shift.

Welcome to the Cellar, Ashaloo

Wow... I would not have believed it... too cool.

Too bad they're not both bald ;)

I'm pretty sure it's Alt+S.

I have heard of bears playing before, although I have never seen it in the wild

TEST...Yup...ALT+S

thanks, Yb.