Posted on 02/01/2010 9:40:00 AM PST by Korah
These came out a while ago. For whatever reason the bear just wanted to play, and wasn’t in a hungry mood.
I especially like the one where the bear is hugging the dog like a little girl would hug her doll. It is uber-adorable.
There is also Youtube contrent of this subject.
Scientists tell us that bears and dogs share a common ancestor. About 38 million years ago, the bear and dog lines separated into two distinct groups. The bear group began to walk on the soles of their feet while the dog group (called “canids” which includes modern day dogs, wolves and foxes) continued to walk on their toes. As bears evolved into omnivores, which means they began to include plant material in their diet, their gut became longer. Since plants take longer to digest than meat, plant eating animals need longer guts than carnivores. The bears teeth also changed over time. Canids tear their food when they eat, and have typical carnivorous teeth - small pointed front teeth and pointed molars. But bears crush and grind their food and therefore have short front teeth and rounded molars.
They are also both in the order of mammals known as carnivora, and in the same suborder, caniformia, along with weasels, racoons, and seals. So they are fairly closely related, which suggests a fairly recent common ancestor.
Source(s):
US Fish and Wildlife Services
Some wildlife group was using this photo to highlight the dire straits in which this bear finds heimself, stranded (oh my God) on this little piece of ice.
This bear, also known as Ursus Marinus, can swim, like all bears.
If you’re escaping a bear, run faster than your buddy but don’t jump in the pond.
“The lion and the lamb shall lay down together; but the lamb won’t get much sleep.”
—Woody Allen
Wow, that was sweet. Now I want a dog AND a bear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.