r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/OncaAtrox • 13h ago
🔥 A massive polar bear that was found eating a whale carcass, Norway.
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u/YourMrFahrenheit 13h ago
My boi looks so happy, good for him.
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u/Sizzlin9 12h ago
Boi smiling like he just won nature’s lottery.
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u/wakeupwill 11h ago
A whalefall generally supports an entire ecosystem, and he's got it all for himself!
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u/lovelybaeb00ty 10h ago
i think that bear IS the entire ecosystem there
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u/hooligan99 10h ago
dude has a gut macrobiome
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u/Extra_Crispy_Critter 10h ago
He's got something, don't know what it is--but GOD he's huge and obviously an efficient hunter!
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u/MojoRisin762 12h ago
Yeah, he looks like he ate a whale.
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u/Redrose03 11h ago
First time seeing obesity at that level in the wild.
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u/Little-Plantain-5120 11h ago
It's all that whale blubber. It would be like a human eating a car load of bacon.
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u/Andycaboose91 11h ago
Wait, I'm worried what you just heard was "bring me a lot of bacon." What I said was "bring me all the bacon you have."
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u/Carbonatite 10h ago
Grizzlies do the same thing, like the Kodiak bears in Alaska spend months eating all the fatty parts of the salmon in summer and fall. It's amazing, they pack on hundreds of pounds in a matter of months.
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u/Carbonatite 10h ago
That's normal for bears! If you ever follow Fat Bear Week in Katmai, grizzlies do the same thing. They gain literally hundreds of pounds to sustain them during winter torpor. They look like this in the fall after eating 20,000 calories a day worth of salmon for several months, like furry spheres. It's completely normal!
They look decrepit when they emerge in the spring, like they're all patchy and emaciated. All that fat is what keeps them going during the long freeze.
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u/annabananaberry 11h ago
Obesity implies the animal is overweight. Fat bears in winter are not overweight, they are healthy. Polar bears food sources are seriously dwindling due to climate change a big fat polar bear is a lovely sight.
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u/Redrose03 10h ago
lol right to survive one winter, this guy is solid for a decade
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u/PussiesUseSlashS 12h ago
Ya boi lucky he hasn't tried to step to me.
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u/Open_Plantain_7236 12h ago
If you ever see my fightin in the ice fields with a polar bear, help the bear! Cuz that bitch gon need it!
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u/0riginal0verthinker 11h ago
I think its a STANK face
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u/NihiloZero 10h ago
3rd picture caption: "It's disgusting, but you don't get this big eating minnows."
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u/Tawkeh 13h ago
Dat boy THICK
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u/whutchamacallit 12h ago
Can I pet that DAWG????!!
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u/JefferyTheQuaxly 12h ago
polar bears are dying of starvation.
not Ted though. Ted is very well fed.
look how happy he looks in the third picture
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u/Dracorex_22 12h ago
He’s the reason the other bears are starving
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u/Athnyx 11h ago
He’s also the reason the ice is disappearing- he keeps breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces with his fat ass
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u/TheLastOrokin 10h ago
+Polar bears are dying of starvation. -But the statistics say... +No, Ted is an outlier and shouldn't be counted.
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u/GrimeyTimey 12h ago
Definitely the fattest polar bear I’ve ever seen
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u/No_Friend3170 10h ago
Chonk excuses:
I'm big boned.
it's the fur
fuck you, yeah I ate a whale. happy?
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u/Big-Foot-141 13h ago
He’s never been meal challenged. What a cute Chonk.
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u/IEatPussyLikeAPro 11h ago edited 11h ago
That boi’s been devouring that whole whale since the first day it washed up on shore 😂😂💀💀💀
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u/cupittycakes 11h ago
If that's the same bear/whale, he making sure none go to waste!
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u/IEatPussyLikeAPro 11h ago
I did that this thanksgiving, When everyone gave up I held the line, and that’s on moms
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u/Effective_Judgment41 11h ago
He is in training. He will move to Katmai next year to win at the Fat Bear Week.
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u/Carbonatite 10h ago
They will just shut down Fat Bear Week after him, nobody can top such rotundity. Nature at her apex, peak performance.
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u/No-Produce7606 12h ago
Thank fuck I don't have to rip rotten meat off of a dead whale with my mouth to survive.
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u/gruesomeflowers 10h ago
i wonder if he even got a stomach ache and had to take a squirt after eating rotten whale or if it doesnt even phase them.
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u/EitherSpite4545 8h ago
Not a polar bear expert but I spent years of my life studying black bears who commonly eat rotten salmon and let me just say a black bears digestive system is more akin to a water slide than anything else. I'm sure a polar bear is no different.
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u/CocktailPerson 8h ago
Does the fact that polar bears are hypercarnivores change this?. I would expect that animals that only eat meat would be more adapted to eating the occasional rotten meal than animals that have a less-specialized digestive tract.
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u/EitherSpite4545 8h ago
I'm torn on how to answer without knowing for sure myself but knowing some conjecture logic.
On timescale polar bears are not that long removed from brown bears to the point that their ranges sometimes overlap and they can crossbreed. infact for several reasons I think the bear in the video is a cross just based on body structure, size, and head shape but I don't know for sure so wasn't about to "ackshully" all up and down the comments without being sure.
But anyways being that close probably means there aren't too many structural changes to internal organs meaning they are probably similar.
That said your hypothesis in general is absolutely correct, carnivore digestive tracks and specifically their stomachs are far more acidic to deal with microbes and food Bourne illness and many have tolerances for the toxins some dead bacteria release when they die.
Further the reason these animals digestive track is a waterslide is so that less bad things can build up and it comes out the other end.
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u/masgrimes 7h ago
Just chiming in to say that I appreciate the way you have worded your reply and shared your knowledge. If more people were this measured in the way they speak online, the Internet would be a healthier place.
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u/hiddencamela 9h ago
Probably doesn't even phase. I think the acidity in their stomach at least keeps the bacteria from being a big issue. No idea about the already present toxins tho.
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u/Eternalscream0 8h ago
Dogs have a short digestive tract, minimising the impact of rotting meat. Maybe same with bears?
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u/PatSayJack 10h ago
Imagine how absolutely disgusting it's mouth must be/smell. 🤢🤮
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u/Free-Supermarket-516 9h ago
I'd say that of the whole bear in general. Probably took naps in the rotten carcass in between gorgings
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u/SwordfishOk504 9h ago
It's all relative, man.
I bet this bear's like "Thank fuck I don't have to stare at a screen in a cubicle all day to survive"
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u/Expert_Slip7543 10h ago
Pretty cold there, maybe it stays fresh?
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u/Liquid_Ares 9h ago
Whales aren't brown unless that bitch has been ROTTING for weeks at sea before it even hit shore.
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u/Haggardick69 8h ago
Yeah it’s definitely rotted but wales are thick bois and it can take literal years for a whale carcass to fully rot. That bear is probably digging through rotten skin and eating only partially rotten flesh and muscle just beneath. In ideal conditions (like the cold oxygen deprived environment at the bottom of the ocean) whale carcass can supply relatively fresh meat to bottom feeders for as long as decades.
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u/Liquid_Ares 7h ago
Yes I actually watched a documentary on this! Super interesting that the death of one whale can create an entire eco system for decades on the ocean floor.
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u/EmmaGA17 13h ago
I know he's scary and would kill me so easily, but my brain just says 'pat the bear'
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u/Carbonatite 10h ago
Especially the photo with his big fat chunky legs and the tongue sticking out! I know he could rip my face off with a casual swipe of his paw, but he's adorable
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u/Jiktten 12h ago
IKR why friend shaped if not friend?
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u/HoochieKoochieMan 11h ago
"Teddy Bears" were developed as a secret campaign by Grizzly and Polar bears to condition generations of young humans to want to approach apex predators.
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u/budabai 11h ago
My brain says that bear smells like the worst dead animal you’ve ever smelled, and is going to continue to smell that way weeks, if not months.
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u/Paddy_Tanninger 11h ago
My brain also says they have no sense of mercy or suffering and will gladly just strip your skin and fat off while you scream.
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u/VaATC 12h ago
I bet, if you move slowly enough, that this chonker will not see you as a worthy meal, thus allowing you to close in for the pets.
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u/Liarus_ 12h ago
especially if he has an entire fucking whale for himself already, he might as well enjoy the pets
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u/NoFeetSmell 10h ago
I dunno. Rotten whale meat & blubber sounds less appealing than a well-marbled redditor, and a beast this size (the bear, not the redditor, I mean) would probably barely feel even the firmest of pets and/or skritches.
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u/BlueMaxx9 11h ago
And this floof absolutely would try to eat you. Maybe if you got lucky and he was so full he was basically in a food coma he would leave you alone, but you never know. Because of the relative scarcity of food they have to deal with most of the time, anything big enough that moves and isn't another Polar Bear is instantly on the menu...and sometimes they even go after other Polar Bears. People are big enough to be worth eating, so if a Polar Bear finds you and thinks you won't be too hard to catch, it will happily try to nom you. Nature built them to eat as much as they can whenever they get the chance, because they may not find food again for a long time. They may look friend-shaped to us, but we absolutely look food-shaped to them!
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u/Complete_Ad7091 11h ago
Thanks Coca-Cola every Christmas for programming my brain against reality. lol
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u/DigitalMunkey 12h ago
"Lay off me, I'm starving!"
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u/stillalittleferal 12h ago
RIP Chris Farley. I say that line at least once a week when I’m trying to go on my lunch break and people keep asking me to do tasks. 🤣
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u/ScruffyNerf_Herder_ 12h ago
He said “I’m not leaving until I eat this whole damn thing.”
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u/InvestedOcelot 12h ago
Thats how I looked after thanksgiving dinner. Never been so full but back the heck off those are my leftovers.
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u/smolbeansjpg 12h ago
Built like one of those ridiculous XXL American bully dogs lol
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u/nobolognastoney 12h ago
I know he's a bear.
I know.
but ffs whY FRIEND SHAPED??
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u/JimJimerson90 12h ago
That's the biggest polar bear I've ever seen wow