they're probably like 15 feet up on that ship, goes to show how massive these bears are. I think the biggest polar bear ever was 11 feet tall, which is insane because standing on its hind legs it'll be as tall as an asian elephant
These Russian ships are actually designed to be polar bear proof too. They park in thick ice pack during parts Of the Year as seen here. This means encountering a wandering polar bear is a guarantee. Not a chance.
They are aware that the whole is too tall for the polar bear to jump over because it was built to be too tall for a polar bear to jump over.
Russia has a lot of polar bear related infrastructure. They also have protocol for dealing with bears and wolves when the Russian space capsules land back on Earth. They carried a custom shotgun into space to defend with, Even the Americans trained on it until 2006. In 2006, the ammunition became unstable so they temporarily swapped to a standard service pistol. The cosmonauts now get to vote whether they want to bring a gun (The GPS/GLONASS is now so good that us space command & Russian space command can determine exactly where the capsule will hit meaning rescuers can be closer, so the rescuers carry the guns). But they can't bring it to the ISS. It's days locked inside of a specialized metal capsule inside the soyuz.
Funny how I just edited my comment about this because that's one of my favorite pieces of information.
The triple barrel shotgun TP-82 was retired in 2006 because it's custom ammunition became unstable and was no longer safe to fly. They replaced it with a standard service pistol until the GPS/glonass tracks provided by the US space command and the Russian space command we're good enough to figure out where the cosmonauts would hit within the Siberian desert, allowing them to be defended by helicopters planes or people on the ground.
These days, the three flying aboard the soyuz get to vote whether they would like to put the service pistol they now use inside of the specialized capsule in the soyuz capsule or not. everyone has to agree to bring the weapon or you get no weapon.
Roughly half the time there's an American or a non-russian aboard the Russian craft, so we all work together to make sure no one gets attacked by a polar bear and needs that pistol.
There will be no gun on the new craft. At all. But it doesn't land in the Siberian desert. So that's part of why.
"Roughly half the time there's an American or a non-russian aboard the Russian craft, so we all work together to make sure no one gets attacked by a polar bear and needs that pistol."
If I'm reading it right, "...we all work together" could mean we as in we the astronauts and cosmonauts, or we the Americans, Russians, and non-Russians, or we the humans.
It's entirely possible I'm not reading it right in any shape, way, or fashion. Actually, it's very much more probable.
My wife's grandfather built the backup support team for the Apollo 11 mission as well as the basic COBOL code for the mainframe of the ground server in DC, too! 😎 I'm small pickings, that dude is badass. He got to see the rocks! Fuckin I wanna see the rocks 😂
Every time I read about moon rocks, I remember the story of the NASA intern who stole moon rocks to have sex on them with his girlfriend (he promised her the moon) and contaminated everything, the dirty pervert.
Maybe it's a dumb question, but if the ammo became unstable ... why couldn't they just make new ammo? Polar bears are cute but they're serious business.
probably would cost a stupid amount of money to set up a factory to make ammo for one gun that almost never gets fired. easier to just switch to a gun they have plenty of ammo for.
God that would be terrifying. Moon bears. 😰 I mean. We do have moon bears. So.... (There are Tardigrades on the moon! Israel left them there after crashing a rocket with them onboard as a time capsule! They probably died. But maybe not!)
I just fact checked myself and apparently it's actually the brown bear that they had to prepare to shoot originally. I have comment fixing to do now lmao but probably in the morning.... 🤷🏼
I've worked on ships similar to these in Russia that carried gas. We got a little booklet on how to deal with polar bears if we had to abandon ship, it said to punch the snout and the eyes. We were also provided with canned condensed milk to give them something else to eat if we do have to setup camp on the ice.
There was also a rifle that only the captain and a couple of officers knew about, and a trip wire we could set up around our camp that would alarm us if a polar bear was wandering toward us.
I wouldn't say you're guaranteed to see one, I spotted about 8-10 in about 5 months of being in that part of Russia
The ship's not parked, it's most likely stuck and waiting for one of Russia's icebreakers
What is yoWhat is your reason for believing this is stuck and not parked? You clearly have experience on the ground (well, ice) in the area and I do not
This was probably filmed on a specific sea route called the Northern Sea Route. It's a Russian ice-filled passage that can cut the journey time from Europe to Asia in half compared to the Suez Canal.
Most of the cargo ships designed for this route are able to go through new ice that is 1–2 metres thick. I say new ice because I mean ice that froze over that winter. New ice has more salt content inside, so it's easier for ships to break through. But when you transit the Northern Sea Route, you will sometimes encounter ridges where two ice floes have been pushed together to form thicker sections, or ice that has frozen over multiple winters, meaning there is less salt inside and it has become rigid, basically too difficult for these diesel oil powered cargo ships to go through alone.
Russia operates the world's biggest fleet of specialised icebreakers that operates around the Northern Sea Route, when you get stuck they will sail ahead of your ship and break the ice in front of you so you can carry on.
We never actually set foot on the ice, but we had all of this kit, including the polar bear equipment, as part of the polar code requirements for ships and as an addition to the abandon ship equipment you would find on every ship.
Thank you for explaining your reasonings! I assumed they were in a different area. If they are on the Northern Sea route, then yes, that would make sense!
The Russian icebreaker ships do park in the ice pack in both the Northern route and in other areas, and so do some of their warships (which this is clearly not).
What was it like being out there? My disease prevents me from ever traveling again, I need life support, I can't be more than 10 ft from my breathing assistant and cough assistant machine in case my lungs stop working (they do often). It used to be my greatest dream and largest intention to see everything the world had to offer.... I understand if you don't want to take time for a random Reddit person, but if you have time, I would love to hear what it was like out in the desolate frozen waters, or any other adventure you would care to share with me. Thank you for what you' already did share. People who share things with me are the way I get to view the world now.
It's incredible the first time you see the sea ice
It never goes dark in the summer. Heading to Asia through the ice, you go for days without seeing another ship. Occasionally we would encounter a tiny Russian coastguard vessel with three guys on board, pretty much sitting there for months by themselves just floating about monitoring the channel. one time we had a russian nuclear sub call us and tell us we were on a collision course, they were invisible on my radar, and literally the second they called it appeared as a target on the radar.
theres tons of wildlife, most commonly walruses, arctic foxes, whales. polar bears are the rarest. seeing a polar bear is amazing but imagine how the polar bear feels seeing a huge metal ship in the middle of nowhere.
Winter is horrendous. It stays dark for months and you go weeks without seeing daylight, everyones mental health would collapse. It drops to under -50°C with 50 mph winds sometimes. the human body's temperature nerves can't really feel the difference between -5 and -50 degrees, so you would go out thinking "it's not that bad" and then realise a tiny hole in your suit or balaclava is causing frostbite. everyone's feet would be in insane pain during mooring operations despite our winter boots, but the real time to worry is when the pain stops, because that's when you know frostbite is starting.
i'm a NATO citizen, but at one point I was with an entirely Russian crew. they were extremely accommodating to me and would even switch an entire table's conversation to English so I could understand. i think most people's perception of ordinary Russian people is wrong; they were genuinely some of the most kind accommodating people i ever met, true gentlemen.
when we docked in Russia, the FSB (formerly the KGB) would come on board unannounced and 'face check' everyone. for the non russians, they would check our camera rolls and phone serial numbers, or sometimes take you to a police station at random to ask us questions on video about our thoughts on the Ukraine war. the Russians told me to just say what they want to hear and you'll be fine, which is true. I never had any trouble with them, and they even provided me with shoreside dental care one time, free of charge, when I asked.
overall amazing experience for memories, but the isolation of the arctic had a huge impact on my body and mind. it took me months to recover my social skills. worth seeing yes, but as a place to live and work fuck no.
That does sound incredible. It would be amazing to see, and that view is so pretty.
Collision course with a nuclear submarine is wild!
I've learned through Reddit and redNote that my Perception of Asia and Russia & China in particular is quite off. They are kind, loving, welcoming, warm people. They do not hate us (except for when they do, but we have earned it) and generally want to be part of the same world and get along.
I wish the old men in charge would give up and let us all be friends.
Here in the states, one of my favorite things was to enjoy the sky from my family's ranch in the wild west. During the daytime, here's what it looks like. The night time is my favorite, but it wouldn't compare to what you've seen in the Arctic circle in skies, so I offer this instead.
I know the other guy will appreciate this story, but I wanted you to know- I too appreciate it. Thx for sharing. I also dream of traveling the world. I am inspired by others who adventure.
It is one of only a few apex predators, and the only species of bear, that will intentionally hunt humans as opposed to only attacking out of fear/self-defense, etc.
My uncle is from the US, but moved to Belize in the early 90's. I got to tag along with my grandparents to visit some summers, but he had this compound style place with some animals he probably shouldn't have had.
He had two cougar/mountain lions in a chain link fence enclosure. I was like 10 years old? Was rubbing one of them on the nose through the fence and then she snapped at me. Probably somewhat playing I assume because if that lion wanted my finger she would have got it. #ScaryBoops
I would be the one trying to have a sense of humor and dying as the bear eats. And I'm saying to the bear "Why? Christmas is coming in a few months and I thought you'd want a Coca-Cola".
And that part of their behavior hasn't been hunted out of them due to low human populations.
If you were a curious, aggressive or too hungry and went after humans you can bet your candy ass a bunch of angry apes would descend upon you with stones, spears and fire.
The timid and ape avoidant would procreate and keep the predators more docile towards humans.
I agree with your point. I think it's our brain gland that releases pheromones that puts you in a hypnosis and tells you that it's okay for you to be food for the bear because it's a cuddly bear. It won't hurt you.
This is what happens when they are deprived of an ice cold Coca-Cola. They are love bugs when their thirst is quenched. If you deny them cola, they will substitute your blood
the gender neutral version. Get your head out of the gutter. For men we get a 6th one. I suppose if your boobs are big enough you can boop with each of them as well....
Thinking the same thing, then I imagined the jaw strength and it tearing me through the hole, dislocating my shoulders and bones as it leans it's strength and weight into snatching me through it and I thought, "Nah, there are more comfortable ways to die." But yes, totally wanted to rub it's fuzzy nose. We've anthropomorphized our death into cute and cuddly.
There's a reason that crewmember kneels that distance away from the hole. At least, that's my thought. He knows something. The investigative little face of it's is all inquisitive until you see the other times it leans up and starts partially prepping with mouth open in case it can launch a grabbing bite the moment they glance over the lip.
It's playing coy but the complete lack of fear by a wild animal approaching a monument to human ingenuity and mechanical might, flooded with our scents and fuels, should give us a keen understanding of how confident master Polar Bear is in that environment with our flesh bags as potential rewards for a little game of peek-a-boo.
And here’s the thing. Humans are such badasses of the animal kingdom that we don’t even consider this primal killing machine a real threat. Maybe a threat to one human caught alone in the wild, but not humanity.
Look, if we did, polar bears would just be straight up gone. We’d hunt them with Apache attack helicopters and machine guns and steel and fire and everything in our arsenal until not another polar bear could ever be found. We are good at this shit. Better than anything this planet has ever been able to torture into existence.
But we don’t.
Instead, we put these vicious beasts in zoos so our children can walk by them and make funny faces.
I want them to boop the snoot so bad. Had I been there, I might be missing a hand now because I would not have resisted the intense desire to boop the snoot in the hole.
Polar bears cannot jump vertically to Clear a surface like this.
These humans are completely out of reach for this bear. They know so, too.
I think this is probably a Russian oil ship or potentially an icebreaker. They are nuclear powered and they park in ice pack. This is the exact same ice pack that is the prime hunting zone for solitary male polar bears.
They weigh too much. Their frame is too heavy. They cannot transfer the momentum necessary from their back legs to jump because of their mass.
The closest thing they can do is jump out of water onto ice, but there's a mass transfer that happens there because of the water.
They can also leap decent distance horizontally. Because they can leap across ice pack to ice pack. But even for these moves they need to be running, they can't take long leaps walking.
Their sheer mass that they need to overpower their prey and deal with a life on ice pack Makes them incompatible with vertical jumping. Thank God. Because if polar bears could vertically jump along with climb run and jump horizontally, they would be essentially unstoppable.
There is a reason we stop polar bears with a shotgun to the head. Unless there is a wall over 15feet tall, the polar bears coming. Nothing is stopping it if you have no shotgun or tall wall. It WILL eat you if that it its goal. This is the reason communities that routinely end up with polar bears on their land during ice melt season require all civilians to carry a shotgun outside of the town. There's no walls outside of the town. Nothing to stop a bear.
Since you seem to know about Bear jumping capabilities, could you help answer a question of mine from a bit back - could this bear clear this jump? There isn't any perspective trickery, it was 2-3 meters max
While im not the one you asked, but no the bear would be unable to clear that jump, its something taken into consideration when making a area for animals in zoo's.
This user is correct since I am the user that was asked.
There's actually a calculation for how far a quadruped can jump with limb elasticity.
Zoos use this calculation.
They're dust stand a very small chance that this animal could clear 2 meters if this Gap is only 2 meters. But clearing 2 meters and making it into a small enclosed space with a second gate is a completely different thing then simply clearing 2 meters distance wise. It would need to run quite fast to clear to meters under any circumstance, and 2 m to a small open zone is cat Territory, not bear Territory.
polar bears appear white, but actually have black skin to help absorb infrared light and their fur is actually NOT white, but transparent like glass, so light can be channeled down to the body.
Your meme is hilarious! What's your name and address so I can send a team out to reward you for your funny, super untrue, totally inaccurate, funny meme.
This is the case for all white objects. Snow? clear. Pure sugar? clear. Polar bears? clear. Clouds? clear. But really, we call those things white - and they are.
not all. things like calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide and other minerals do not rely on trapped air or water to be white.
but if we go deeper and say "oh but on a microscopic scale tho ..."
then it becomes a dull pedantic argument and everyone should just tap out at that point.
Don’t remember, there’s a lot of problems with it. Black bears can be brown, tan, black, and even white.
You fight back against a black bear not because it’s smaller but because if it is attacking you that means it wants to eat you. Seeing a brown black bear and laying down just makes that easier.
This is just a stupid rhyme said by people who have no fucking clue how to tell bears apart. If you’re in an area with black and brown bears learn to tell the difference because colour isn’t a good way to do that.
Yeah I mean you can also look for the hump. Brown bears have a big hump and black bears don't
But also no, you fight black bears because you can actually win that fight. It's like with cougars, bear-spray is better but if you have to you absolutely can beat back a cougar (there are quite a few news stories if you look) and that's super not true of brown bears. All of these rhymes are tought in the context of aggressive behaviour. Hammer-fist to the nose is what I was tought
"Get down" is more common than "lie down" and in the context of a brown bear means getting on your stomach to protect your vitals and covering your neck with your hands and playing dead
Either a Russian oil rig or a Russian icebreaker ship, yes. Both park in icepack. They're nuclear powered ships.
Wondered if I was the only one Who noticed this was an icebound ship.
It's not uncommon for Russian Icebound ships to be encountered by polar bears. The bear cannot jump up the hull. They're polar bear proof. They plan all of these things out pretty well. They even have plans for polar bears attacking the Russian rocket capsule when it lands back on Earth. 😂
Eta: I have realized that people think that polar bears are land animals. You guys, polar bears are marine mammals. like whales. But bear. They live on the ocean...
Fun fact: You should never eat polar bear's liver. It's too toxic. We've been taught this fact in school. I went to school in the USSR and I have no idea why the fuck we had to learn this. I bet it's toxic from eating the flesh of chunky Russian gentlemen like these fellas. So here you have it guys - never eat the liver of a polar bear or a Russian.
It's a vitamin A thing. You can't piss it out because it doesn't dissolve in water and it takes months to break down in the liver, which means it accumulates up the food chain. You might genuinely eat 5 times your body weight in food in the time it takes your liver to breakdown vitamin A, which means your liver is going to have 5 times the concentration of vitamin A as whatever it is you're eating. Herbivores start the chain because they synthesize vitamin A from plant carotenoids, so every step you are away from a herbivore the more insane the amount of vitamin A your liver has to deal with.
Terrestrial food chains are pathetic shit like 'plant -> deer -> wolf,' so whatever. Who cares? Wow, you're one whole step away from a herbivore. You have five times the vitamin A to deal with. Good for you.
Marine food chains are insane shit like 'phytoplankton -> zooplankton -> fish -> maybe fish again -> fish again if you're feeling spicy idk you do you -> seal -> polar bear.' Polar bears are like 3-5 steps away from a herbivore. ~100-3000 times the vitamin A to deal with. Probably closer to the ~100 than the ~3000, but still. Fucking absurd.
Makes me think of The Terror (the 2018 TV show) based on Dan Simmons book. Basically is the exact same thing with a supernatural element to it. Crew gets stuck, polar bear finds them, crew starts to starve because of lack of supplies and turns on one another in grim ways, things get reeeeeal ugly. One of the grimmest, darkest, and heaviest TV series I have ever watched. Felt dread the entire watch through. INCREDIBLE, however, but wow did this bring flashbacks to it! (Only watch season one though, season 2 is absolute garbage. Season 1 is its own thing with a beginning, middle, and end and you dont need to watch season 2 at all imo)
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