How big is a Grizzly Bear Paw?

[Uncle Joe]

Sean Sparling on Twitter: "This is how big a grizzly bears paw is - by the way, the bear is sedated and about to be tagged.

[djean111]

1. Puts things into perspective. That is frightening, and makes me think that "playing dead"

is likely a doomed last resort. We should leave them be, and leave their range and environment be. I know, too much to ask. And, hypocritical of me - I would love to be that woman, at that point in time, just to be that close to a grizzly bear. Without getting eaten.

[roguevalley]

15. a friend of mine who lives on a river a few miles away had one of those and her

yearlong sleeping under their deck all winter. They would come in and out and didn't know. Another friend has them walk through her yard and one decided to try and get into her house. The bear paw prints were on the window a long time.

They only live a few miles from me.

[rhett o rick]

38. I understand that their paws are enormous but that picture doesn't provide a comparison

for perspective. The paw is closer to the camera than the person. Would like to see the paw closer to her to get a perspective.

[Hekate]

42. Her hands are on the paw. If that's not "perspective," I don't know what would be. nt

[rhett o rick]

51. Wow! Why so hostile?

[Hekate]

52. Not hostile, just a fact. Or if you will, my own perspective. ;)

[H2O Man]

2. Recommended!

I saw that picture on Face Book. I am in awe of the paw!

[Uncle Joe]

7. I am in awe of the paw as well.

[Tom_Foolery]

3. Now I want to make a run to the pastry shop...

[lonestarnot]

5. mmm mmm m

[Beartracks]

23. Mutant, six-toed bearclaw. n/t

[Codeine]

4. Damn.

Just, damn.

[malaise]

6. Freaking wow!

Rec

[alphafemale]

8. As big enough as needed to hold you down as they eat you alive

Welcome to the Teddy Bear Picnic.

[bvar22]

35. But if you just ring a little bell....

...and shout "Hey Bear", they will all just leave you alone.
Healthy Bears will not attack Human Beings!!!...... unless you get between a Mother and Cubs....


Now HOW the hell am I supposed to know where both Mother and Cubs are when walking through the Forest?
What if the cubs are on the other side of the trail and I walk through admiring the beauty, having NO Earthly Idea I am walking between Mother & Cubs.?

A "healthy" bear may not attack humans,
but what about old bears with bad teeth that are starving?

..and then, there are just some mean bears who don't like anybody.

...and the young male who just lost a "mating fight" with an older bear, and is injured?
Yeah, that little bell and a firm "Hey Bear" is gonna work on a furious, injured Grizzly.

Bears are beautiful, but always dangerous. Nobody knows what a surprised bear is thinking.
When traveling in Bear Country, I carry a magnum sidearm.

[Aerows]

36. While I have never encountered a bear

I would probably adopt the same idea as I do when I see an alligator. Leave it the hell alone, and get as far away from it as possible.

[bvar22]

37. As a boy raised on Louisiana Bayous,

....I'll take 10 Big Gators to one disturbed bear any day as long as we're on land.
They are not near as dangerous as they look unless you are caught in the deeper water.
They taste a lot better than Water Moccasin too.

I don't go looking for trouble,
and am getting too old to hike the mountains,
but have always found the "a healthy bear will not attack you if you ring a little bell" to be laughable.
What about the unhealthy bears?

We have Black Bears in my neighborhood, but they are seldom seen,
and we will be happy to never see one.
Some of our BeeKeeping Friends have had encounters, and have had their hives destroyed,
but, so far, ours have been OK.

[Aerows]

41. Well

I'm still going to stay the heck away from both of them .

[pinboy3niner]

45. I'm with you, Aerows!

Closest I came to a bear was when camping in Yosemite once and heard a bear trying to get into the bear-proof trash can near my camp space.

Closest I came to a croc or gator, I saw a purse a couple of times. That was plenty close enough for me, thank you very much.

[csziggy]

47. I always remember this sign when I hear that "wear a bell" claim

Grizzly Bear Warning Sign

Due to the frequency of human-bear encounters, the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Branch is advising hikers, hunters, fishermen and any persons that use the out of doors in a recreational or work related function to take extra precautions while in the field.

We advise the outdoorsman to wear little noisy bells on clothing so as to give advanced warning to any bears that might be close by so you don’t take them by surprise.

We also advise anyone using the out-f-doors to carry “Pepper Spray” with him is case of an encounter with a bear.

Outdoorsmen should also be on the watch for fresh bear activity, and be able to tell the difference between black bear feces and grizzly bear feces. Black bear feces is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear shit has bells in it and smells like pepper.
http://www.outdooroddities.com/2008/07/23/grizzly-bear-warning-sign/

[Octafish]

9. Likely people been worried about bears since there were people.

For good reason. Thank you for the important paws to ponder, Uncle Joe! We really are living in the most interesting times.

[Zorra]

48. Wow. I found a carved figure that looks almost exactly like that,

carved out of a kind of black chalcedony stone.

It's about 1 1/2 inches long and maybe 1 inch high.

I found it in Washington.

[Octafish]

57. Do you still have it? This thing was found on the west coast, south, near San Diego...

Here's the scoop on the Blue Bear thing:

In 1985, an artifact made from volcanic rock was unearthed at the Allan O. Kelly Archaeological Dig overlooking the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad, California in San Diego County. Archaeologists noticed a 2.5" long by 1.5" piece of meta-volcanic rock that looked a lot like a bear. It was fashioned by California Indians around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. Created in the way that they made arrowheads or spear points, the stone artifact displayed markings of being chipped into a specific form. The unique shape gave speculation that the small item might have had some religious connotations to the local members of the Luiseño and Juaneño Indian Tribes.

This prehistoric artifact is called the “Chipped Stone Bear" and is the Official California State Prehistoric Artifact, as adopted by the California Legislature on June 24, 1991. As an effigy in prehistoric times, it is still revered today as one of the earliest examples of representational art recovered in the Western United States.

SOURCE: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25962

I drive a Nanook, from what I understand: "Polar Bear" in Inuit:



It's a kayak for fat guys. I think bears are great.

[Solly Mack]

10. That's very scary.

Amazing, but scary.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. That gives us paws to reflect on the power of nature

Wow.

[CanonRay]

12. Imagine that thing taking a swipe at your guts?

Yikes.

[sarge43]

14. Open you up like a sardine can.

[roguevalley]

16. play dead and you might live. Black bears on the other hand ...

[nadine_mn]

18. Oh black bears..had enough of them when I was younger

I grew up on the North Shore of Minnesota and every year we had black bears in town. You could tell where they were by the garbage strewn in the alleys. There were some residents of a senior housing that used to feed them from their balconies.

I took my dog outside once, rounded the corner of my garage and came across 2 adorable black bear cubs...no mama around. Which was good - gave me a chance to get my butt back in the house before she saw me near them.

They are so beautiful and become semi-tame (ok tame is the wrong word I guess) - but they become used to being around people. Which can be wonderful and also go horribly wrong for both.

Still, whenever I see a garbage can dumped and rifled through my first thought is "bear!" instead of racoon or some smaller animal.

[gregcrawford]

24. Speaking of black bears...

... we had one next to our patio one night a couple of weeks ago investigating an empty bird feeder. It was hanging on a 3/4" diameter square steel post. Maybe he was pissed that there was nothing in it, so he snapped it off at the base. Steel post. Snapped. OFF. Our (very small!) dogs go batshit when they hear a bear in the middle of the night.

Blackies around here average 3- to 400 pounds or so, and effortlessly demolish things like steel posts. God only knows what a full-grown boar grizzly could demolish. Probably whatever the hell he wants!

[truebluegreen]

32. Lived in Alaska for a while, in Bristol Bay.

It was a fly-in place, but had a road, a small village and a dump. There was a metal garage / shop / storage building with a dirt floor where the garbage would be stored before a trip to the dump...at least that was the plan. Shortly after implementation, we came out in the morning to find that a bear had dug a hole 4 ft deep by 4 ft wide by about 7 ft long, to get under the metal doors and into the shop--in one night.

[underahedgerow]

13. BEAR TOES!!!!!!! How COOL is that? I just want to tickle them.

While he's heavily sedated of course.

[tblue37]

30. Mongo jellybeans! Usually toe beans are much smaller:

[roguevalley]

40. pink toes! swoon!

[nadine_mn]

17. Amazing..and sad how little respect some have for these animals

Not talking about this woman obviously. I think of the warnings park rangers have had to put out because idiots are taking selfies with a bear in the background..like that bear can't charge at them before they can post "OMG..."

I agree with a previous poster - would love to be that woman for just minute...what a wonderful experience.

[secondvariety]

19. Holy crap.

[shenmue]

20. What lady doin with mah foot?

When I get up from this drug, I gonna punch u so much...

[irisblue]

21. ^^LOL

[ejbr]

22. Upon first glance,

I thought this was another Cecil the lion-type post, but silly me, my DU family would not traumatize me so!

[kpete]

25. Wow!!!

[jtuck004]

26. "Oh, don't worry.He's asleep."

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. ..

[Journeyman]

28. Grizzly bears are easy to outsmart and protect yourself from . . .

In Montana, when I hiked there some years ago, there was sage advice posted at the trail head.

The sign warned that both Black Bears and Grizzlies were in the area and advised that the way to safeguard from attack was to wear small bells on your clothing, to alert the bears you were nearby, and to carry pepper spray to use if the bears got too close.

The sign said the best way to determine if there were bears nearby was to look for fresh scat along the trails. Black Bear scat, it said, has small berries and bits of fur mixed in, all part of the bear's diet. Grizzly scat was easier to identify as it's larger, smells like pepper spray, and has little bells sprinkled throughout.

[djean111]

39. Okay, that was funny! n/t

[herding cats]

43. Ha!

Excellent!

[laundry_queen]

54. LOL! nt

[tblue37]

29. K&R. nt

[truebluegreen]

31. Depends

on how big the bear is. There was a bear I knew about (never saw) in Alaska that would move through our area in October, apparently on its way to wherever its winter den was. I could stand in one of its back paw prints with both of my women's size 9 shoes, with space all around. REALLY big bear.

[tabasco]

33. Will grizzlies be extinct in 2100?

Tigers?
Lions?
Polar bears?

How many more awesome species will be lost forever because of man's rat-like overpopulation and destruction of the biosphere?

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/

http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/human-caused-322-animal-extinctions-in-past-500-years-140724.htm

[Rex]

34. That does help put into perspective the power behind their swing and attack.

Now I can see why they say one swipe can break a deer's neck.

[yuiyoshida]

44. someone once told me that

Mike Ditka had huge hands..

[pinboy3niner]

46. Somebody needs a mani/pedi

But I'm not gonna do it, you do it. I'm not gonna do it, you do it. I know! Let's ask Mikey...

[GGJohn]

50. Hey Mikey. LOL.

Good one, and I remember those commercials.

[eppur_se_muova]

49. And they can sprint at 45 mph for short bursts ...

I saw footage taken by a grizzly bear researcher (a human who studies bears, not a bear that does research) of a grizzly trying to catch elk by just running them down ... the bear could corner sharply, but the elk were just a little bit faster, and he didn't catch any.

[smirkymonkey]

53. Wow! Amazing.

I just kind of thought back to growing up in upstate New York. Bears used to come down at night to get into the trash all the time, even when we had locked up the cans in a shed, they would tear the doors open. I remember watching them from a back window one night. They were frightening. The thing is, we would play in the woods all day and never ran across them. Just lucky, I guess.

[Ex Lurker]

55. Not all of them are that big

Their size is very dependent on their diet. That bear is probably on Kodiak Island or in the coastal rain forest, where food is plentiful and easy to come by. Bears in the interior, where food is sparse, are quite a bit smaller. Some of them look downright scrawny.

[Uncle Joe]

56. If we want to get technical, Polar Bears are even larger.

USFWS Biologist Mike Lockhart displays the size of an adult male polar bear forepaw ©Mike

But that's not always the case.