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Communicating with Bears: Polar Bears

© Gerald Eugene Smith

Actually, I am NOT recommending that you attempt to communicate with polar bears! Only bonafide Artic experts on the polar bear should attempt that. This is more a record of such attempts at communication and their results. There is still an awful lot we really don't know about polar bears. There is no agreed upon conventional wisdom as to polar bears and how to relate to them. I will merely present the experiences and suggestions of various experts.

First of all, polar bears are not dangerous because they are ferocious and temperamental the way grizzlies are. Although they are closely related to the brown bear or grizzly (their lineage diverged about 200 to 250 thousand years ago, probably from the ancestors of the Kodiak bear), their temperament is quite different from the grizzly and more like the black bear. They tend to be much more sociable, friendly and easy going than grizzlies. They are more willing to tolerate each other's close presence and much mor willing to share food, an important aspect of their social structure. Mellow, affectionate, playful and courteous, polar bears show far less of the brutality towards each other that grizzlies so often do.

However, polar bears are both the largest and most predatory of all the bears, and the only true carnivores. The biggest polar bear on record was a male that weighed a full metric ton. A human relating to a polar bear is in the dubious position of a rabbit relating to a dog. The dog could make friends with the rabbit or just as easily kill and eat it; the same consideration holds for polar bears relating to humans; you can't be sure what the bear's intentions are going to be. For this reason, extreme caution must be practiced around polar bears and you must give them plenty of distance. Even if the bear wanted to be friendly (and sometimes they do), he could still seriously harm you just because he is so big and powerful. Polar bears have had less contact with humans (basically only the last 3,000 years when the ancestors of the Eskimo moved into the Arctic) than other bears, and they generally do not show the kind of restraint towards humans that other bears do.

Despite the fact that they genuinely are dangerous, polar bears are often remarkably good-natured animals. I have seen some remarkable photos of big male polar bears making friends with husky dogs near Cape Churchill in Canada. One bear simply rested near the line of huskies for 2 days, waiting for the huge fuss to die down and the dogs to calm down in his presence. He then explored up and down the line until he found a dog that wasn't too afraid and seemed a little friendly. Slowly, carefully and gently, he made friends with the dog and played with it. One photo shows the dog and bear touching noses by way of introduction; another shows the bear tenderly hugging his canine friend (who looked both scared and elated) with his eyes closed in bliss. The bear took great care not to hurt his little friend. He came back every day to spend some time with the husky until the sea froze and he could go back out on the ice to hunt.

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