Bear Size ~

[Polar]

(01-11-2016, 01:40 AM)brotherbear Wrote: The Kodiak bear is from but one population ( the term subspecies may be obsolete ) and even he, the biggest of the grizzlies, comes up short when compared to the polar bear in size. And yes, killing a walrus or a beluga whale is extremely impressive. As a whole, Ursus arctos would average I would guess little better than half the weight of a polar bear.
But south of the polar bear's realm there rules the grizzly. Where the grizzly bear and tiger domain merge, things get interesting. 

I do agree that polar bears generally take much bigger and more dangerous prey than the average grizzly bear. A walrus has:

-Durability (layers of fat a huge thicket of tough, almost rhino-like skin)
-Strength (it's neck is predicted to easily turn over a ice flow 10 meters long, and a stab of it's tusks can kill a polar bear in many ways: there are PDF documents detailing the deaths of polar bears as a result of walrus attacks.)
-Endurance (as part of the Caniform family, seals, sea lions, and walruses have extremely developed stamina as a result of their slow-twitch muscle capacity and lung sizes.)
-Speed (surprisingly, not many people think a block of fat can move, but as with all animals in nature, we must never underestimate them. A full grown walrus bull can pedal forward 6 meters at a time in under two seconds; turning sideways is not as efficient as moving in forward-backward directions. A walrus is almost untouchable in water without a question. A walrus can move its neck at incredible speeds like a dog or bear as well.)
-Flexibility (surprising as well. A walrus can rotate its back side to side to use its flippers to swat away other creatures, and it can curl around all the way until its nose is almost 2 feet away from the tip of its tail.)
-Weaponry (tusks and powerful bite.)

Regarding all these features, I think the walrus is the most dangerous and difficult prey any predator could ambush or take on face-to-face. Ambushing it usually takes a few hours to tear through those layers of fat, all while the walrus is trying to kill the predator (not easy to simply tear a 20-inch bite into its fat-layered neck or skull, its skull is super thick and no modern carnivores' jaws can support a bite that size.) . I don't think even a cape/water buffalo, guar, bison, or any antelope/moose/cervid can match the extreme hardness of a walrus. However, I do think that a large wild boar or elephant seal is quite an equal to the walrus.

Though, I will admit, some brown bears do find a "meat tooth" savory, and they can hunt large bison, mountain goats, and elk a lot of times. But big cats and polar bears are better hunters for me.

Things can get interesting when the grizzly and polar bears are within each others' territories as well. Reply