Stupid question that keeps me up nights: Are there bears in England?

[Arugula Latte]

Besides the London Zoo, I mean. Have there ever been bears in England in the wild? My gut is no, but what do I know? :shrug: Did England split from pangea before the evolution of mammals? I would think so, but I have no concept of these eons of time's passage. If it split before mammals, did mammals have to float across the channel on a piece of driftwood or something?

My brain runs on and on with questions like these. Someone help me!

:beer: Ah, that's better!

[Dookus]

1. Sure!

Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington, to name two.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Winnie the Pooh

but he resided for years now in the NY Public Library. Don't know if he's returned to his old haunts yet or not.

[depakid]

3. No bears left, but plenty of hedgehogs

and warm ale.

[TlalocW]

4. The combination of hedgehogs and England

Always makes me think of a gangster named Dinsdale.

I'm sure someone else can tell us why... :)

TlalocW

[Jandar]

5. Ask Spinny Norman. n/t

[Birthmark]

8. My favorite episode.

Of course, my name is Doug, so there's a good reason for that.

"I've seen grown men pull their own heards off rather than talk to Doug." It's true, too! Muwhahahahaha!

[realisticphish]

10. he nailed my head to the floor

mind you, i deserved it

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[jdonaldball]

6. Seriously, the Channel is not very old

Britain was attached to continental Europe long after homo sapiens were in Europe. The Channel formed something like 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, something like that. The oldest humans in Britain were there before Britain separated from the continent.
There were other mammals in Britain well into human times, I think bears among them, but some of those species have died out in Britain although they survive elsewhere. Kind of like the Spice Girls.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Wow! Really?

Thanks!

I will sleep soundly tonight.

[indigobusiness]

9. French bears walked across the channel during ice ages

And wished they hadn't, after checking out the local cuisine...and the locals.

[CanuckAmok]

11. Mmm...deep fried grubs.

[jdonaldball]

12. The toilets in England were too clean

for the French Bears' habits. :-)

[Nevernose]

13. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was located next to a bear-baiting arena

And it's arguable which one was more profitable. Good question, Oregonian: I've often wondered where all the bears came from.

[indigobusiness]

14. That's true

and Shakespeare was a master baiter.

[Nevernose]

15. No sex threads, damnit!

Dirty thoughts make dirty people!

[pagerbear]

16. Of course there are!

Or at least there were in 1242.




No, wait, I've met some in person! Woofy bears, too!

[T_i_B]

17. Not in the wild

Although I should add that I used to live fairly near to this old bear pit. Thankfully they stopped fighting bears in it long ago.

http://www.sbg.org.uk/bear.asp

[dbt]

18. Thank you all. Now, what about the Giant Kittycats of Bodmin Moor?

That's what's keeping me awake!

:freak:
dbt

[LWolf]

19. Brown Bears lived in Great Britain.

They became extinct around the tenth century, according to this link:

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/1999/2/bearconservationworld.cfm

Still, my favorite bear is native to great britain: