Bears are some of the most recognizable animals on Earth, but their lives are far stranger and more fascinating than most people realize. From war heroes and Hollywood stars to surprising biological quirks and remarkable survival stories, these bear facts reveal a side of these powerful animals that often goes unnoticed.
A Medieval Polar Bear Resident
1. A polar bear once lived at the Tower of London; it was fed by being tethered and allowed to fish in the Thames. It was a gift from King Haakon of Norway in 1252.
2. Grizzly Bear number 122 in Banff National Park, the largest bear in the area, has eaten two black bears, has fathered five cubs, and was struck by a train but survived.
3. Binky, the Alaska Zoo polar bear, mauled two visitors who jumped over the safety rails on separate occasions. After the maulings, Binky merchandise was sold with the slogan ‘Send another tourist, this one got away’ and his enclosure was upgraded to keep visitors out.
4. A panda’s gut is poorly adapted to digesting bamboo, managing to digest only about 17% of the bamboo it eats. Its digestive system is better suited for eating meat, like that of other bear species.
5. A grizzly bear’s bite is estimated to be strong enough to crush a bowling ball.
6. Wojtek, a bear, served in the Polish Army during World War 2. He carried shells to the front lines and was taught to salute.
7. Polar bears have black skin and clear, hollow fur. The clear, hollow fur allows sunlight to reach the black skin, which helps keep polar bears warm in the cold climate.
8. A group of pandas is called an embarrassment.
9. Grizzly bears were so feared and respected by Native Americans that hunting them required a company of 4 to 10 warriors and was done with the same preparation and ceremoniality as intertribal warfare.
10. Part of the reason it is so hard to get pandas to mate is that the female panda is only fertile for a short period in the spring. Their sexual interest lasts just 24-72 hours per year.
Cub Who Inspired Classics
11. In 1915 a bear cub named Winnipeg was sent from Canada to the London Zoo. A young boy named Christopher Robin Milne loved visiting Winnipeg (or Winnie for short), and his affection for the cub inspired the stories his father, A.A. Milne, wrote about Winnie-the-Pooh.
12. Some bears in Russia have become addicted to sniffing jet fuel from discarded barrels. They have even begun stalking helicopters to obtain the drops of fuel those aircraft leave behind.
13. In 2008 up to 30 bears surrounded and attacked a remote Russian platinum mine, killing two security guards and trapping 400 people inside.
14. All polar bears alive today trace their lineage back to a single female brown bear that once lived in Ireland.
15. Some black bears are born white and are called Spirit bears. They are not albino or polar bears.
16. Giant pandas may defecate as much as 48 pounds in a single day.
17. A 175-pound black bear nicknamed Pablo EskoBear died from a drug overdose after ingesting roughly half his body weight in cocaine; the bear was later stuffed and is now a tourist attraction in Kentucky and wears a note around its neck that reads “Don’t do drugs.”
18. About 12,000 bears in Asia are farmed for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine and generates about $2 billion per year; farming always involves surgery to insert a catheter or to cut an opening through the abdomen so the bile can leak out, and bear bile has no medicinal effect.
19. Brown bears can run at speeds up to 48 kilometers per hour, roughly 30 miles per hour, as fast as a racehorse.
20. When hungry bears tear into a beehive, they are primarily hunting for bee larvae, which they much prefer to the abundant honey inside.
Panda’s Unusual Attraction To Humans
21. Chi Chi, a giant panda, was sexually attracted to humans and refused mating attempts by other giant pandas, instead openly presenting herself sexually to zookeepers.
22. Polar bears have a bone inside their penis that helps maintain an erection, and global pollution is weakening this bone to the point that it is breaking.
23. Some bears have favorite trees and will travel for miles to scratch their backs on them.
24. Female black bears delay implantation of their fertilized eggs for months to time when they will give birth, and they abort the pregnancy if they are not healthy enough to raise cubs.
25. Bart, a Kodiak bear, starred in dozens of Hollywood films opposite actors such as Dan Aykroyd, Anthony Hopkins, Annette Bening, Ethan Hawke, Gregory Peck, and John Candy, and his biopic was narrated by Brad Pitt, with whom he worked on Legends of the Fall.
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