Bear Strength

[Shadow]

(01-05-2019, 05:27 PM)brotherbear Wrote:

(05-28-2016, 04:42 AM)brotherbear Wrote: The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.

Bears possess enormous strength, regardless of species or size. The strength of a bear is difficult to measure, but observations alone ( bears moving rocks, carrying animal carcasses, removing large logs from the side of a cabin, and digging cavernous holes ) are indicative of incredible power.
A study team at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, found that a grizzly bear could treat a 700-pound dumpster like a beach ball, while it took a minimum of two persons just to tip the dumpster. The team concluded the strength of a calm grizzly bear is two-and-a-half times that of a human.
No animal of equal size is as powerful. A bear may kill a moose, an elk, or a deer by a single blow to the neck with a powerful foreleg, then lift the carcass in its mouth and carry it for great distances. "The strength ... is in keeping with his size," describes Ben East in 'Bears'. "He is very powerfully built, a heavy skeleton overlaid with thick layers of muscle as strong as rawhide rope. He can hook his long, grizzly-like front claws under a slab of rock that three grown men could not lift, and flip it over effortlessly... A brown bear took a thousand-pound steer a half mile up an almost vertical mountain, much of the way through alder tangles with trunks three or four inches thick."
Strength and power are not only attributes of large bears, but also of the young. The author observed a yearling American black bear searching for insects turn over a flat-shaped rock that was between 310 and 325 pounds "backhanded" with a foreleg. The bear was captured the following day in a management action and was found to weigh only 120 pounds

... A brown bear took a thousand-pound steer a half mile up an almost vertical mountain, much of the way through alder tangles with trunks three or four inches thick."

When comparing videos about black bears flipping rocks on videos, I have to say, that 120 pound cub with over 300 lbs rocks would have big balance difficulties even if able to flip a rock. About brown bears is told to be observations, that cubs are able to turn rocks up to 140 kg, which is about 310 lbs. But in that source, even though it is from zoologist with doctoral degree, there is no description about cub size or how easily doing that. 

But with bears there is some need to be careful too, that not taking for granted everything what is printed. For instance that "moose decapitation" myth, which is mentioned time to time in some places. If someone wants to waste time, just try to find something proving it Reply