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Of Bears and People III
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This is the third image of a short series on the interaction between bears and people in Western Canada's national parks. For a complete story see the first and second shot of the series.
After ignorantly providing a treat, the tourists have this bear's undivided attention. The bright area in the bottom left corner is the highway. There are many reasons not to feed wildlife, and especially bears, the most important being that this is not a zoo or a safari park, it is actually the wild, and one wouldn't like the bears to associate cars and people with food. Would you like to be hiking, biking, changing a tire or walking to the rest room, and have this fellow come and greet you? Wikipedia features a List of fatal bear attacks in North America by decade...
Distinguishing black bears from grizzly bears is not necessarily straightforward for the non-expert, and the color is not the most reliable clue. This is certainly a black bear, but I'm not confident I could make the distinction quickly if running into him on a hiking trail at close distance. Recognizing the species is important because grizzly bears attack in order to defend themselves or establish superiority, and hence playing dead is said to be an efficient last resort. For black bears the attack is mostly predatory, and playing dead means providing an easy meal.
The prominent ears and lack of a shoulder hump, along with the color pattern and body shape identify this fellow as a black bear. Stay tuned for more... |
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excellent shot good pov and composure well done
bryan j
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