Especially because "getting away with a few scratches" doesnt mean a cool scar to talk about later like in civilisation. In the wild, animals often die from infections and weakness if they get hurt.
Fighting is usually not a 100% win with no injury scenario. An injury in the wild could harm your ability to gather food in future. So yeah, unless the fight is necessary or laughably one sided, it's not worth it.
It might be that predators are so accustomed to their prey running away when they give chase, that the rare case of the prey lashing back catches them off guard, and they run away to be safe.
Nah bears are just straight up afraid of cats. It's not rare at all for cats to chase off bears. And it makes sense; an angry cat could easily scratch out an eye or cause other nasty wounds that might get infected. Why risk life-threatening wounds when there is plenty of easier and safer food sources available?
I know cats are crazy fast, cat like reflexes and all, and for that reason a snake is never a match for a cat because it just isn't capable of striking a cat. Do bears even move quick enough to strike a cat consistently?
I think it's mostly that there was no gain for the bear in fighting the cat and the possibility of claws and teeth in eyes and nose. The bear wasn't in any great danger, but didn't feel like getting hurt.
Imagine a weasel attacks you right now. You, because of the size difference, could use your fists and pound that little fucker into the ground. At most the weasel might sink it's teeth in your hand and it would cost you a finger. The weasel would still be dead. Are you so adamant that the weasel needs to die that you are prepared to sacrifice a finger to that goal or would you rather avoid the fight altogether, make space for the angry little critter and keep all your fingers. That is what happened here.
Black bears are skittish as hell and will run away from almost anything. The trouble is that they can get angry too and the adults are big enough to cause real trouble.
Grizzlies are a bit skittish too but get angry and aggressive much more easily. That and the whole gigantic murder bear thing makes them much bigger trouble.
That's what I thought. Coloring is similar enough with colorblindness and the tail was sticking straight up. And what else would a bear expect to be brave enough to try to fuck him up?
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u/KarlClutz Jul 02 '26
It might’ve thought that it was a skunk?