Just had to post this for your viewing enjoyment.
www.nrk.no/.../1.7448955
Just had to post this for your viewing enjoyment.
www.nrk.no/.../1.7448955
Bob
Wow....talk about playing with fire...
What a bunch of idiots, it hurts in me when they smack the bear on the nose. It
I have to agree with you, Ragnar. A couple of years ago I visited Svalbard and had the good fortune to meet one of the world's leading experts on polar bears, Dr. Ian Stirling. He made it clear that, when observing polar bears, you should do so from a distance that does not cause the bear to change its natural behaviour. Offering food like this is crazy. It just teaches the bear to equate humans with food.Originally Posted by Ragnar
Rant over, now here are some of the pictures I took...
Polar bears like to roll in the snow to keep thier fur clean.
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200
They can swim for huge distances. This one is about half way across a 20 mile stretch of water between two islands.
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100
Bears need sea ice to hunt for seals. When the sea ice disappears, they have to find an alternative food source. This bear has just been eating eggs from a colony of glaucous gulls.
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/8, 1/1250s, ISO 800
Doing what they do best, catching and eating seals.
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/10, 1/1250s, ISO 100
Dr. Stirling said this was a female. You can tell by the size and shape of its bum (apparently). It was good to see a couple of ivory gulls amongst the glaucous gulls scavenging on the leftovers.
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400mm, f/10, 1/1250s, ISO 100
They might be big, but they are dwarfed by the landscape
5D Mark II, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 285mm, f/10, 1/1600s, ISO 100
Last edited by Andy Stringer; 11-12-2011 at 08:51 PM.
Andy, Great series of the P-Bears. Love the last one. Must have been a great trip. Thanks for sharing,
Bob
Bob
Ragner, I concur, it wasn't the smartest thing to do to enticethe bearonto the boat with food; but a tap on the nose to discourage aggresive or scavenging behavior is far less serious than what many would have done---i.e. killing the bear. Personally, I have to applaud the crew for maintaining thier cool and just letting the bear leave on his own accord rather than pulling out the guns or other weapons they probably have access to. But I do agree with youin that they should have avoided the situations in the first place. The biggestconcern I have with the whole thing is that if the bear happens across another boat/ship, he will be thinking ----food, and the crew will most likely resort to far more violent means to get the bear away from the ship.
But.....it was a a great video.
Bob
Bob
I just get so angry when they stuff like that to wild animals. It
+2...idiots. Among other things that could happen, how about the bear being trapped between the boat and the ice. Or what if the next time the bear decides to "board" a smaller boat. I understand the desire to get a good picture, but Dr. Stirling gave good advice.
Andy...great pictures.
Doesn't this make you miss the old days, when you could go to Yellowstone and feed the bears right out your car window.
Plus you always had the chance of seeing someone get there arm ripped off when a bear got angry. Or maybe grandma goes to pet one and it malls her.
What great photo ops they had back then.
When we went back country camping last year in Yellowstone, we had to set through a video about the dangers and bears. They had a picture they said was taken the year before, I don't know when, of Grandma going up to pet a buffalo. The buffalo didn't want to be petted and he charged her and threw her up in the air. All the family was standing around watching in horror, except the one that was a photographer andhe wanted to "capture the moment". It makes me wonder if the photographer relative is still in Grandma's will.
Otherwise, you will have to excuse the political incorrect word, but lacking a better word right now to describe the guys on the boat. I would go with <span style="text-decoration: line-through;"]retarded. OK strike that, they are just idiots.
PS: Bob this kind of reminds me of the thread a while back where we talked about calling in a mountain lion. I would be game for tryingto call one inwith you if you ever want to go, but I need to know how fast you can run. I know I can't out run the mountain lion, but if I were faster than you I would feel safe going.
To Ragnar,
Thats actually a myth, birds for the most part have a very poor sense of smell and won
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