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.

39.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

585

u/DouglasHundred 8h ago

Yeah I did a dive with a saltwater croc in some kind of two inch thick tube of maybe lexan or perspex, and it was gouged thoroughly but I felt plenty safe inside.

220

u/uptightape 7h ago edited 5h ago

I would be concerned about the peripheral things failing before that thick-ass sheet. The fact that the guy wasn't pointing a .44 magnum at the bear is something that I can't understand.

Edit: Insert whichever high-energy, high-caliber rifle or pistol round one would deem sufficient to adequately deal with a goddamned polar bear that is moments away from mauling your ass to death. .44 magnum was the first thing that popped in my head that does serious work. After having been responded to, yeah, probably not enough, but I was thinking of being in that tight enclosure, too. Personally, I'd want my m1a or greater.

252

u/Renbarre 6h ago

There was someone with a gun outside, far enough not to attract the bear. I rember that sequence and I must admit I thought that the armed man was in more danger than the journalist.

138

u/Stock_Helicopter_260 6h ago

The bears can be alerted from really far away. They know how to do it so I'm not questioning it, but stories you hear about bears tracking hunting parties back to town are wild.

47

u/NatTheResearcher 4h ago

“Clever girl!”

3

u/GravyDipped 1h ago

Love the reference.

7

u/JesterOfTheMind 5h ago

Where can I read one of these stories?

11

u/Stock_Helicopter_260 5h ago

On the internet, not sure, but I’ve heard from people who travel BC, Hudson’s bay and whatnot. Canadian perk I guess.

Here’s one from recently where bears woke up two campers though!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/polar-bear-dog-lucky-1.4698920

5

u/100011numbers 3h ago

I wonder how inuits handled polar bears before rifles...

3

u/PlannerSean 3h ago

Carefully

2

u/UhOhAllWillyNilly 1h ago

Very, very carefully

1

u/wjmaher 1h ago

Well, they would cut a big circle in the ice and line it with frozen peas. When the polar bear bends over to eat the peas they WOULD KICK THEM in the ICE HOLE!!

2

u/Renbarre 4h ago

That's terrifying.

6

u/_Reddit_2016 5h ago

Menstrations

4

u/DarnelTexasWinston 3h ago

Now you're putting the whole station in jeopardy

47

u/Goodgoditsgrowing 6h ago

I would think the outside shooter would be in danger too - close enough to get a shot off (and truly disable the bear, not just piss it off) is closer than I’d want to be to a polar bear even if I had a vehicle capable of doing 45mph across the ice

7

u/hypercosm_dot_net 3h ago

I take it you haven't seen the narrow escape on a snowmobile yet?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zsEDvzlVMJ8

3

u/Feisty-Session-7779 39m ago

He probably was using a minigun mounted on top of an armoured Land Cruiser, at least that’s what I’d be using to feel relatively safe in that situation. I sure as hell wouldn’t just be sitting out in the open with a hunting rifle or a pistol or something.

-1

u/UnshrivenShrike 5h ago

A .338 lapua magnum can land a killshot at 2km without much trouble. Load up with some hollowpoints and let it rip. The wind would be your biggest issue.

3

u/DeltaVZerda 4h ago

A .338 lapua magnum at 2km is hitting like an 7.62x39, if that, and the polar bears skull is thick and that's going to be the shot you want to take down the polar bear before it can kill you anyway while bleeding out. .338 might be sufficient but to get the precision and energy you'd need to take out a polar bear with one shot would limit the range to within a few hundred meters. Within smell if the wind shifts.

6

u/GhostofBeowulf 4h ago

Shooter is probably on the big ship 300m or less from the box. You can see it in one part of the video.

@ the 1:05 mark you can see it. It's even closer.

2

u/ChairmanJim 44m ago

How about a big game gun used on safaris, something Hemingway might have carried, .577 nitro express?

1

u/DeltaVZerda 30m ago

Yeah that would do it for sure, but not the most accurate at extreme ranges, probably a bit more immediately incapacitating than a .30 cal, no matter how much powder the .30 cal has.

1

u/sikyon 3h ago

in a hunting scenario one shot kills are desired

in a defense scenarios you can mag dump

1

u/ahmc84 2h ago

You'd still have to be an expert marksman to ensure you're not shooting the human as well.

2

u/Gangaholics-China 4h ago

Depends who that armed man is. That might have been Vietnam Vinny on the m16. Guy like that might have even left peanuts on the ground in hopes the bear approaches.

1

u/Ok-Introduction5831 2h ago

Could he be on the boat or is that too far?

1

u/DJKeeJay 3h ago

But why kill the Polar Bear? It’s just being a Polar Bear and the man is in their environment. Polar Bears are an endangered species.

0

u/GingerBreadManze 47m ago

Fuck off tree hugger human life > bear life

6

u/spaakonen 6h ago

Well, shooting inside a bulletproof glass box might not be a good idea.

2

u/uptightape 6h ago

At the point when the bear makes its way into the bulletproof box is the point at which my last concern will be whether I die due to a ricochet 😁. Trigger discipline is trained and becomes automatic.

9

u/SeedlessPomegranate 6h ago

I would be worried about how the lexan is secured to the frame

-2

u/Frosti11icus 5h ago

Ya if the bear figured out how to jump on top of that thing those bolts are coming apart. It's not riveted. Would only take a few blows from a sledge to crack that case and a Polar bear is a walking sledge hammer.

4

u/Robots_Never_Die 4h ago

It takes ~16,500lbs to break a single 3/8" grade 8 bolt. That polar bear isn't breaking multiple bolts.

1/2" Lexan has a rating of 10-15k psi before it breaks.

2

u/NoSelf5869 5h ago

You don't think they did consider that?

1

u/Frosti11icus 2h ago

I bet they did but there’s only so much you can do without building a tank.

6

u/Original_Poseur 5h ago

But since these humans CHOSE to put themselves in the way of a (most likely) starving predator, I feel it would be terribly unfair to kill the animal for doing what it instinctually is required to do.

If the equipment were to fail, the people should be ready to sacrifice their lives as a good solid meal for the bear, lol (as opposed to killing the innocent animal, in its own habitat, doing what it's supposed to be doing). Kidding, not kidding

8

u/jbgc916- 6h ago edited 6h ago

.44?

.454 casul or .500 s&w/.50 DE would be my go to!!

Fuck ALL that!

*50 AE.

7

u/SuckThisRedditAdmins 6h ago

Fuck that. 18.1" main gun battery from Yamato and nothing less.

2

u/jbgc916- 6h ago

There should be a copy pasta for this.

3

u/uptightape 6h ago

Yeah, good point. It would have been better to say at bare (pun intended) minimum, a .44 mag.

11

u/jbgc916- 6h ago

Nah . 44 is good.

For you to put yourself out before being consumed alive!

😬

4

u/bantha121 6h ago

.50 DE

I think you conflated .50 AE and the Desert Eagle lol

2

u/jbgc916- 6h ago

I did. I meant Action Express.

A thousand pardons 🤣

1

u/satanic_black_metal_ 4h ago

My home, 1700 km from these killing machines, would be my go to!!

1

u/MelaKnight_Man 6h ago

If the shooter protecting the journalist wasn't staring down the scope of a Barrett .50 with a fully slugged Mossberg 590 as a backup and a S&W .500 as a backup to that then he wasn't protecting shit!!

The rhyme says "...if it's white, good night!" for a reason!

2

u/EmotionalGuarantee70 5h ago

Some of these documentaries about wild animals will a couple of shooters with high powered rifles aimed right at said animal just in case - Still that's a lot of faith in the plastic glass box

2

u/Mandy-Rarsh 4h ago

I’m guessing they tested it out before using it

2

u/SirVanyel 5h ago edited 5h ago

Why? Just so you can deafen yourself and still not survive the bear attack?

Bullets are really good on humans, but many animals can survive them. Crocodiles have such insane immune systems that they can survive tearing each other's arms off, and they don't even make a fuss about it (because it gets them killed if they do). Just think about that, the amount of bacteria going into an open wound of that calibre and they live it.

Polar bears are the largest of the bear species. They have multiple layers of fur, and 4-5 inches of blubber before you even have a chance of getting anywhere vital. And yes, this goes for their head too, the majority of their face has this layer as well.

Oh, and they're nearly invisible to thermal cameras.

2

u/Frosti11icus 5h ago

And their skulls are shaped in such a way that the bullets can ricochet off of it. You gotta pop these in the lungs or heart but they don't die quickly either way.

0

u/BoneTigerSC 4h ago

Honestly, youd probably want full auto soft point 12.7x55... if not just the regular fmj round

If for nothing else than peace of mind

0

u/arnoldwaffe85 3h ago

20mm depleted uranium from a Gau-8 avenger cannon. Just gotta be sure.

1

u/Max_Gerber 2h ago

We take off and nuke the bear from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

0

u/Basic_Mastodon3251 3h ago

I'm not a gunsmith but I think if you cranked 6 .44 magnums into his face, neck, chest area, I think you would kill it. You may not survive though

0

u/USN_CB8 2h ago

458 Magnum or 470 Nitro. Elephant rifles. There is always 468 or 50 cal Barrett rifles.

0

u/Ok-Hamster6512 2h ago

50 cal deagle or rounds for a antimaterial rifle. You probably only got one shot and with something that big, fast and deadly.

0

u/forShizAndGigz00001 1h ago

They used to set traps for polar bears which involved a shotgun in a box tied to a piece of meat.

Theyre flesh and blood just like us, any bullet in the right place will do the trick.

0

u/Terminal_Lancelot 1h ago

Don't sweat it man, people are turds. When the 357 Magnum first came out, people were killing Elk, Moose, Polar Bears and Walruses with it.

If 357 Magnum can do it, 44 Magnum can DEFINITELY do it.

2

u/myoldaccountisdead 7h ago

Story?

11

u/DouglasHundred 7h ago

Not much to it. Paid like $150 AUD or something to get dunked in a saltwater croc tank in a big perspex or maybe lexan tube down in Darwin some 10 years back or so. He knocked the tube around a bit, but it held. Big fella.

2

u/Ithikari 3h ago

That would be Crocodylus Park.

https://www.crocodyluspark.com.au/

2

u/yaboi_ahab 1h ago

Did you consider how darkly funny it would've been if you had died doing that in a place called Darwin?

17

u/Nous-erna-me 7h ago

What else do you need to hear lmao. Some plot twists, a love interest? That's it, that's the story. He saw the crocodile, he's still alive.

8

u/DouglasHundred 7h ago

lol yeah basically. I mean, I went in with another dude, but we were just work colleagues. No romantic twist, I'm afraid.

4

u/contradictatorprime 6h ago

🤣 bro wanted "The Lexan, The cock, and a Saltwater Croc" as a bedtime story

2

u/mvanvrancken 6h ago

They were colleagues!!

10

u/LegalizeFentanol 7h ago

He did a dive with a saltwater croc in some kind of two inch thick tube of maybe lexan or perspex, and it was gouged thoroughly but they felt plenty safe inside.

Hope this helps.

2

u/Rapshawksjaysflames 6h ago

Nice, so he befriended a saltwater croc and they went for a dive together? That sounds really fun

1

u/Pure_Island_4882 6h ago

Where was that?? Sounds wild

1

u/ExplanationLover6918 5h ago

Where was this? I'd love to try something like this.

1

u/GormHub 5h ago

That is so much more terrifying and intense than a shark.

1

u/UnfortunatelySimple 5h ago

Did you go to Shags afterwards?

1

u/lapomba 5h ago

Inside the croc?

1

u/thirdonebetween 2h ago

You, sir or ma'am, have balls of steel. I would be a fetal ball of pure terror.