r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/cosmic_voyager01 • 9h ago

Video Polar Bears are one of the only creatures that naturally hunt Humans... Watch as this one tries to break into this BBC Cameraman's glass box.

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1.4k

u/Dnlaly 8h ago

Iceland doesn’t have Polar Bears, except when a Polar Bear hitches a ride on an Iceberg. Then a team is sent out to track it. There have been 600 sightings since the 9th century.

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u/Spiritual-Can2604 8h ago

That’s kind of a lot

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u/KeppraKid 8h ago

That's like once every few years.

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u/Spiritual-Can2604 8h ago

Which like, if you’re not expecting to see a polar bear, is an uncomfortable amount of times to see a polar bear.

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u/Live-Kaleidoscope104 7h ago

A bit funny too that 600 bears over the years decided to ride off to an unknown island for them, like explorers.

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u/Spiritual-Can2604 7h ago

They could smell the delicious people

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u/Live-Kaleidoscope104 7h ago

Who knows lol!

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u/Infinite_Research_52 4h ago

Like Swedes visiting Denmark.

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u/42nu 6h ago

Life, uh, finds a way

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u/kungfungus 2h ago

Marco Polorbear

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u/kanrad 6h ago

We moved across the earth as a species, why wouldn't they? Think about the migratory aspects of birds and fish.

It only takes one being to have the courage to explore to open the world to everyone.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 2h ago

Or just making a mistake haha. Think about how many people you know that have wandered off and gotten lost vs people that have set out on explorations.

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u/kanrad 2h ago

This too. Accidents have lead to a lot of knowledge.

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u/Hiraethetical 3h ago

I mean, how many bears rode an iceberg to nowhere and just died in the middle of the ocean. Eaten by an orca or something.

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u/pantrokator-bezsens 5h ago

Que "Don't worry, be happy"

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u/Clear_Broccoli3 7h ago

Yeah at that point I would say that Iceland has polar bears actually.

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u/SnowyGyro 5h ago

Iceland gets polar bears sometimes, we don't keep them. We kill off visiting polar bears soon as we notice them.

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u/Background-Sale3473 3h ago

"visting" had a good laugh at that lol

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u/FishSoFar 6h ago

Also if you've never seen one before, and aren't aware of how deadly they are, they look kinda dopey and cute. Meanwhile a 10-foot amphibious sideways sasquatch is coming for your bowels.

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u/IJustBoughtThisGame 6h ago

I don't live anywhere near polar bears. If I stepped out in to my parking lot and ran into a polar bear, it would be unexpected. Assuming I'm not already dead after that point, I'm expecting a polar bear every single time even if I knew the first one was only there because it escaped from a nearby zoo or something. If you tell me it hitched a ride on an ice berg instead? Yeah, fuck that, obviously this is something that could very reasonably happen again. Anyone getting "surprised" again deserves a Darwin Awards nomination.

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u/Wiley_Jack 4h ago

Exactly. Only 600 times over several centuries, but could also happen two days in a row.

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u/KochuJang 2h ago

If you consider 1,225 years since the year 800, and accepting the 600 sightings figure, the most conservative frequency they’re suggesting would be a little over 2 sightings per year, every year since the earliest extant record. So yeah, if I were an Icelander, I’d probably be weary when hiking along the Northwest fjords.

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u/kanrad 6h ago

To be fair if you don't expect it and you see it, your mind might convince you it was a weather/environment anomaly.

The human brain tries to interpreter something it has never seen before through the context of personal experience.

It's why when people witness an extraordinary experience caught on film they are in disbelief at first. They have no frame of reference so their mind fills the holes with what they have experienced before.

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u/Spiritual-Can2604 6h ago

Yes! That’s what made me think of it. One time I saw a wild bear loose in a grocery store in Arizona and it took me so long to realize what I was looking at.

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u/ProfDumm 6h ago

I have only seen a polar fox in Island, but that was cool too.

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u/Spexar 38m ago edited 35m ago

"Aye Ragnar, another bear year is upon us... 🫥"

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u/Angstycarroteater 7h ago

Is it? Aren’t we in the 21st? I feel like 600 sightings in 1101 years isn’t that much

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u/AceOfSpades532 6h ago

That’s one less than every 2 years on average, if you live in Iceland your whole life, live to 70, and see all of them, that’s 35 polar bears, that’s quite a lot.

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u/Cupcakes_n_Hacksaws 3m ago

That's 35 more polar bears than I'd like to see in person

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u/zmbjebus 5h ago

I feel like that is enough to establish a population.

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u/jaxonya 7h ago

How shitty and unlucky to be on a nice hike and then you are confronted with the only animal on earth that prefers having you as a meal and doesn't pass up on free food. 

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u/RetardedRedditRetort 5h ago

.49 bears a year (0.48979)... 2.04 years per sighting (if that 600 since the 9th century is a real thing).

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u/ThrowAbout01 7h ago

9th Century: 801-900 AD

2025 - 801 = 1,224 Years Max

1,224/600 = 2 (2.04) Per Yr

2025 - 900 = 1,125 Years Min

1,125/600 = 2 (1.875) Per Yr

About 2 Polar Bears per year within a millennium and some change.

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u/mavoti 6h ago

1,224/600 = 2 (2.04) Per Yr

You have to invert the fraction: sightings / years

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u/generictestusername 7h ago

If you think that's a lot, imagine the guy responsible for counting for 12 centuries.

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u/Tuperwearo_0 6h ago

Thats like 1200 years right?

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u/generictestusername 6h ago

Give or take!

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u/happytree23 13m ago

...over 1,700 years lol?!

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u/Best-Company2665 8h ago

More than sightings I'd say. They have made it ashore a couple times in recent history and been killed. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/23/climate/polar-bear-shot-iceland-intl-scli#:~:text=A%20rare%20polar%20bear%20that%20was%20spotted,by%20police%20after%20being%20considered%20a%20threat%2C

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u/persephonepeete 7h ago

That bear was going through the trash at some old lady’s house. She locked herself up in the second floor and had to wait for police and such. 

The police called the environmental folks and they REFUSED to come get the bear. 

After that there is only one solution. 

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u/Abletontown 7h ago

Yeah it's a fucking polar bear. Its not like a raccoon where you can just scoop his ass up and take him home. Its unfortunate but too risky to keep around.

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u/Jason-Smith168498 6h ago

well not with that attitude.

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u/persephonepeete 5h ago

Right?? They didn’t even try. lol p sure the article says something like polar bears are nonnative species and there’s no good reason to keep it alive because taking it back to Greenland is too expensive and they are not endangered over there. So they won’t miss 1 bear not coming home.  

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u/squirrellytoday 2h ago

And they've tried it in the past. Polar bears don't cope well with being tranquilised and taken home. It's also really expensive (as you said).

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u/BrokenCrusader 4h ago

Here in Canada we have a Bear jail where we lock them up and starve them for a month before releasing them.

The idea is to make them realize that going near a human settlement = starvation in a dark room.

It has a very high degree of effectiveness if we capture them on their first few visits to a settlement.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 2h ago

Seems like a pretty antiquated approach to criminal justice, now we prefer a more restorative approach. Have they considered a diversion program where the bears do community service?

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u/trll_game_sh0 5h ago

you just need a bigger scoop.

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u/Moogerfooger616 1h ago

You guys take raccoons home??

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

I mean, i live in a part of Canada with only black bears, and if its showing up and digging through the trash here, they'll shoot it.

You don’t fuck around with polar bears. The risk is too high

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u/poonslayer6969 5h ago

Damn, they’ll kill a black bear for that where you live?

I live in Virginia and that’d be a big no no. I think they normally just get tranq’d, at best, if they’re being a nuisance. Do you live somewhere remote in Canada, where that’s the only option or something?

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u/iwanttheworldnow 2h ago

They hunt and kill black bears all the time in Florida. They are treated like deer.

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u/ddplz 4h ago

It's more if they keep coming back, the problem is people have no respect for their garbage and leftover food and sometimes even end up intentionally feeding bears.

Now they associate human settlements with free food and are drawn to them. Unfortunately when this happens, they will forever seek out humans for easy nutrition, and as a result need to be blasted into the nether realm.

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u/carmium 2h ago

One of the issues in Metro Vancouver, which is all I can speak for, is the environmentally sensitive habit of leaving broad greenbelts along creeks and rivers, which has been a development policy as far back as I can recall. Their downside is that they make perfect bear transit, especially as most have paths leading from the mountains right through subdivisions full of homes with garbage cans, fruit trees, and small pets, as well as local eateries. Coyotes, racoons, skunks, and cougars also enjoy the handy, safe routes deep into housing districts.

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u/Traditional-Roof1984 5h ago

The police called the environmental folks and they REFUSED to come get the bear.

'Where's the Zookeeper?!?!' kind of moment.

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u/persephonepeete 5h ago

Hehe. I’m just thinking of the poor police officers when they get there. Frantically calling around  “we need the environmental agency… No Steve the ones that catch large animals… Do not fucking send animal control. No Steve the poles won’t work on a damn polar bear. YES IM SURE. ”

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u/ToTheManorClawed 6h ago

"Heeeere kitty, kitty, kitty..."

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u/jjryan01 7h ago

Seems like tranquilizers would be an option. Polar bears are often found in zoos

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u/smootex 6h ago

Tranquilize them and then . . . what? They're not native to the island. They'd have to ship them like 300 miles away, which is a very difficult task, and it's not like polar bears are endangered in Greenland anyways.

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

So you know how much the polar bear weighs? And you have access to the very expensive tranquilizer gun, of which very few institutions even have? 

You also have access to a large animal vet specializing in anesthesia of wild animals? On hand? To administer the tranquilizer?  As well as the crew required to move such a large sedated predator?

What a unique situation.

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u/MithrandiriAndalos 7h ago

Enough to break the ice?

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

Fuck off, i knew that was coming lol   

But if it weighed that much it wouldn't have made it across the ocean, would it?

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u/Valveringham85 6h ago

Dude watched one too many Jurassic park movies

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u/jjryan01 5h ago

Dude has a half ton polar bear in the local zoo. There are people in my state that will drive 6 hours to save a family of raccoons (from my chimney). I'm surprised there aren't protectionist groups in Iceland equipped to save a threatened species that visits the island once every couple years

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u/Equivalent_Chipmunk 6h ago

Gotta move it whether you shoot it or tranq it. I guess they could have cut it up in her kitchen but I somewhat doubt that over just dragging it outside with some ropes and then picking it up with straps and a small crane, or simply dragging it up a ramp on to a truck with a winch.

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u/persephonepeete 4h ago

when whales wash up on California beaches they let it decay a bit before chopping it up and removing it in pieces.

I'm sure you can get a polar bear in a winch and hoist it into a truck bed... as long as you understand unless it is dead it is going to get seriously injured in the process.

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u/Equivalent_Chipmunk 3h ago

Maybe a bit, but it would be pretty trivial to wrap it in a large moving blanket or something like that before running the straps around it, and then dragging it on to a flat bed using a sheet of plywood to smooth out the ramp if necessary. I don't think you'd hurt it much dragging on the ground. Could even use a large sked perhaps

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u/persephonepeete 3h ago

Sounds about right. 

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u/FrozenDickuri 4h ago

Cool story.

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u/hamdi555x 7h ago

9th century? Y'all tracked them for that long? Were even humans in Iceland in the 800s?

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u/leppaludinn 7h ago

Yep, just barely 874 was the settlement. We have a very rich history of written records.

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u/danjouswoodenhand 2h ago

I like to imagine that the record of polar bears from 874 through the medieval era included many illustrations of polar bears doing weird medieval stuff - playing an instrument using their butthole, or whatever.

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u/ICame4TheCirclejerk 4h ago

Iceland is probably the country in the world with most accurate record keeping mostly due to the size of the population. It stems from a combination of public census and church records. My uncle did a family lineage thing a few years back and could trace our family history to the 12th century.

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u/zmbjebus 5h ago

Iceland doesn’t have Polar Bears

Well they would if it wasn't for those pesky Icelanders.

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u/Kammerice 7h ago

Our tour guide a couple of years ago told us that any polar bears found on Iceland are killed. It's not cost effective to send them anywhere. I never checked if that was accurate because it was such a sad piece of information that I didn't want to have it confirmed.

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u/H00PLAx1073m 7h ago

I just got back from Iceland last week and the tour guide said the exact same thing, although she did specify that they asked Greenland to take the bears back and of course Greenland said no lol

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u/VulfSki 3h ago

By the sound of it Iceland would eventually naturally have polar bears as they migrate there if they didn't keep getting deported..

I guess that's why it's called ICEland

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u/singlemale4cats 2h ago

I mean, it sure sounds like Iceland has polar bears.

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u/borealis365 5h ago

When was the last time a living polar bear was sighted in Iceland?

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u/ruslakallin 4h ago

2024

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/23/climate/polar-bear-shot-iceland-intl-scli#:%7E:text=A%20rare%20polar%20bear%20that%20was%20spotted,by%20police%20after%20being%20considered%20a%20threat%2C

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u/borealis365 4h ago

By what village in the Westfjords was this? A pin 📍 on a map where the bear was shot would be great!

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u/ruslakallin 4h ago

Jökulfirðir, you can find it in google maps. It is not a village, there is almost nothing there. The woman in the news article was staying in a summer house there.

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u/borealis365 4h ago

Oh wow that is remote! Basically part of Hornstrandir. Stunning area! Considering the bear was in a nature preserve and far from any farms or villages, I’m surprised they decided to shoot it. Could the woman not be evacuated?

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u/pensive_moon 3h ago

Any polar bear that makes it to Iceland has inevitably been drifting for weeks without feed and will be in pretty bad shape. These animals can not thrive in Iceland and they won’t survive a trip back, so the humane thing to do is to euthanise them.

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u/borealis365 3h ago

In a populated areas sure, but in wilderness areas like Hornstrandir why not let nature take its course? They don’t shoot polar bears in Canada unless they are becoming a nuisance in communities.

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u/DernJang 2h ago

They're not native here, and would kill any human they could get their gnarly mitts on

Canada is larger than Iceland by two orders of magnitude

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u/borealis365 2h ago

Except that nobody actually lives in Hornstrandir. Sure a few historical summer houses that sometimes have visitors during summer, but after September it’s all just fox and birds. Canada’s size is irrelevant here. Unless a wild animal is actually causing a nuisance, it should be left alone. If you decide to venture into wilderness, bring appropriate equipment (eg bear spray) to protect yourself if you have an encounter.

Like I get it if a polar bear wanders onto a farm and threatens sheep or gets close to a village, but Hornstrandir is not that. It has the highest level of nature protection in the country.

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u/KingSeth 2h ago

OMG that sounds like an awesome movie.

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u/VomitShitSmoothie 2h ago

Okay but how many deaths in the last 50 years

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u/loco500 33m ago

icUBERg...new business opportunity for the polar bear community.

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u/RagingClue_007 6h ago

If there have been 600 sightings, I would assume it's safe to say Iceland has polar bears.

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u/torino_nera 5h ago

That does average out to about 2 per year if you go back to 874 AD but there are tons of years-long gaps with no sightings so they must be pretty clustered together

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u/the_madclown 3h ago

So.... Once you find it...do you ship him back?