Thursday, November 17, 2016

I'm surprised he didn't end up being eaten


An unusual friendship was captured on video in Canada recently.

They make an odd couple, but a big-bodied polar bear and diminutive dog threw caution to the tundra winds and cuddled up in northern Manitoba over the weekend.

"I had no idea what was going to happen, and then sure enough he started petting that dog, acted like he was a friend," David De Meulles said. "I just so happen to catch a video of a lifetime."

De Meulles recorded a video over the weekend that shows one of the Arctic predators towering over a dog, tenderly petting it while the two nuzzle in Churchill, Man.

. . .

The creature lumbered right up, raised its massive clawed forepaw and began patting the dog on its head.

"I've known the bears to have somewhat friendly behaviour with the dogs, but for a bear to pet like a human would pet a dog is just mind-blowing," De Meulles said.

"It was a beautiful sight to see, and I just can't believe an animal that big would show that kind of heart toward another animal."

There's more at the link.  Here's the video.  Watch it in full-screen mode for best results.





Cute!  I'm amazed the bear didn't eat the dog, particularly because it was chained and couldn't get away.  Perhaps they met when both were young, and played together?  If they established an early bond, I can see that carrying over into maturity.

Peter

8 comments:

eriko said...

There is a guy up there with a pack of native sled dogs. The bears some through each and play with his dogs.
https://youtu.be/uqOfCUND8gw?t=621

Boyd said...

Checking to see if it was ripe and got distracted ;)

Anonymous said...

(Male) Polar Bears eat their young and will kill females that are not in heat.

This bear could turn on that dog as soon as it is feeling peckish. They are not teddy bears.

Hillbilly said...

Mr Grant sorry for being off topic, but I thought you might be interested in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWraZ3xQ-k8

Hard to believe that bear didn't chow down on the dog.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Boyd - probably checking to see how much meat was on the ribs ...

Phil B

Bibliotheca Servare said...

It's a shapeshifter! The werebears are here! Aaaah!
*snickers* Seriously though, that's really cute.

Off topic, I thought you would find this story interesting, and it debunks the "Donald Trump is a racist monster!" BS that so many on the left and right have been spewing (from the perspective of a person who thinks Trump is dangerous, no less! Adds some weight to it, I think) that I thought it deserved to be shared as far and wide as possible: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/ Shortened link: http://bit.ly/2f3iTxB

bmq215 said...

Yeah, about that not being eaten bit...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/polar-bear-dog-video-churchill-manitoba-1.3855128

Tom Kratman said...

On the subject of "I can haz own woof?", it's apparently not that unusual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-Nyt4Bmi8