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Bear Body Language
Posted by Michael Strahan on Feb 06 2006
Bigmnt,
A little off topic here, but perhaps something that will help someone out there. You struck a chord when you mentioned Treadwell's understanding of what I call "bear body language". Point well taken, and perhaps this is your main contention in this. Anyway, I wanted to comment on it because I think a fair number of bears are mistakenly killed because the shooter is inept in judging the bear's intentions.
It's a fact that the more you are around bears, the better you are at judging their intentions. Most of the folks I know who have spent a lot of time near brown bears (either as hunting or fishing guides, or what have you) seem to have a sense of what the bear is likely to do. Mostly this is based on watching the bear and observing his body language. I agree with Bigmnt that Treadwell had developed this sense as well. It's something that you develop only after spending many days in close proximity to bears.
The problem with this is that you can be wrong in your assessment, even after years of experience. Treadwell wasn't the first "expert" to be killed, and won't be the last. Vitaly Nikolaenko and Michio Hoshino come to mind...
It's an interesting topic. I did a little poking around on the internet and found a couple of links folks might find interesting reading anyway, the politics of the authors aside...
Check this out-
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/199903/kamchatka.asp
and
http://www.wildlifeconservation.org/wcm-home/wcm-article/21514640
Thanks for keeping this going, Bigmnt. I think it's a discussion worth having.
-Mike
Previous: A man without an identity Bigmnt Feb 05 2006
Next: A common thread... alcmaeon Feb 06 2006
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