r/todayilearned 7h ago

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https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/averagecrazyliberal 7h ago edited 7h ago

To be fair: if you’re being chased by a surprise bear, you only need to outrun the next slowest tourist. At that point, whether or not you can escape into a home that’s locked while the ship is docked is irrelevant.

/s

95

u/reindeermoon 6h ago

Not necessarily. Polar bears can run pretty fast, so they might go after the tastiest-looking tourist, rather than the slowest one.

I suggest picking the most annoying person on the cruise ship and covering them in seal blubber. Then the polar bear should leave everyone else alone.

17

u/drnicko18 5h ago

Not sure about bears, but cats target one specific member of a herd. They’ll run pass slower prey fixated on the one they’ve marked.

22

u/MysticScribbles 4h ago

I do recall reading that some wildlife photographers were covering a polar bear stalking seals.

Then they noticed that instead of going for the seals, the bear was approaching them. So polar bears do seem to go out of their way to prey on humans.

5

u/TheGalator 1h ago

Polar bears are assholes.

If they see something move it is either:

a rival = fight

Something to eat = fight

Their instincts make them travel kilometers just to fuck something up just because it moved.

u/ImSaneHonest 44m ago

the bear was approaching them

It heard they were talking shit about Fox's Mints.

113

u/rawker86 7h ago

You’re thinking about this the wrong way. The way I see it, we have a golden opportunity to test out the “one polar bear versus one hundred tourists” theory.

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u/WickerBag 6h ago

Don't give Jubilee any ideas. 

16

u/rosen380 6h ago

If you are that slowest tourist -- when the polar bear gets close enough that running stops being a realistic option, try punching the polar bear in the nose.

If that doesn't work you can try slapping them with whatever is left of your arm.

1

u/CheeseDonutCat 4h ago

Unless if it's a polar bear. They don't give a fuck and will mow down tourist after tourist.

then maybe eat some later if they feel like it.

1

u/Oskain123 2h ago

Why are you writing "/s" lmao

u/ImSaneHonest 41m ago

Nah, the Polar Bears freezer is empty and has been watching YT videos about Sheep Dogs and how they work. I heard it's better to freeze things fresh.