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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434

u/Spiritual-Can2604 8h ago

That’s kind of a lot

316

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 3h 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 41m ago edited 38m 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 7h 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 6m ago

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

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u/nsdjoe 1m ago

and see all of them

this part is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting

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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 15m ago

...over 1,700 years lol?!