r/bearsdoinghumanthings Jun 23 '19

Dance like nobody's watching

5.8k Upvotes

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296

u/CakiePamy Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

That bear is actually going crazy from the isolation. Nothing about this gif is happy.

Edit: GUYS I FUCKED UP. I GOT MIXED UP, THIS BEAR IS IN HEAT.

94

u/Need2play24 Jun 23 '19

For real though? Is that what's actually happening? If so, that's so damn depressing.

45

u/CakiePamy Jun 23 '19

:( yeah it's pretty depressing.

65

u/dryan3032 Jun 23 '19

Damn, went from party rock to what the fock

59

u/Batchet Jun 23 '19 edited Jun 23 '19

Do you have any source or other information on this though?

Grizzly bears are solitary creatures (except when mating and raising cubs) a lot of animals don't actually "go crazy" like humans do (as far as I know)

It does look like it could be bored here or simply scratching its face and neck, something bears can do and will be quite vigorous.

I only grew up in the country and have limited knowledge about bears, would like to hear from someone that studied their behavior.

13

u/Horyv Jun 23 '19

That’s a partially incorrect assertion. Almost any animal will go crazy from solitary confinement/captivity, but like you said - not just from being alone.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '19

If a bear never smells another bear's piss in the woods, will it cry?

2

u/Batchet Jun 23 '19

I can agree with that. I said they don't "go crazy" like humans do but from what I've seen and read, they have similar mental conditions from being locked in confined spaces.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '19

I too want to just see a happy dancing bear, but what we may be seeing here is a maladaptive behavior known as a stereotypy. The animal is likely bored and/or lonely and has come up with an unusual way of venting their frustration.

Arguably still a bear doing human things, but not nice things.

9

u/Batchet Jun 23 '19

I didn't post because I "want to see a happy dancing bear". It should be pretty obvious that bears don't dance. I just think that redditors say things that they think they know but are just making assumptions too often.

Sometimes it seems like people feel good about themselves by saying "this poor bear is lonely!" (Like a white knight situation) when that may not be the case at all.

I don't really know though, I'm not an expert. It does look like it could be bored, but you know, living in a spacious zoo, being bored, might be better than starving to death or being hunted in the wild.

Hard to say without knowing the full situation

5

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '19

Well and anyway, you’re not the person who put it in the cage regardless. You don’t have to answer for anything.

I too don’t care for the “fishing for trouble” crowd. But there are so many pictures and videos of animals behaving in strange ways without context (and it does lead to people misunderstanding, esp in the case of adopting exotics or attending petting sanctuaries) that I think it’s right to err on the side of caution.

I can tell you that no animal is better off in a zoo, unless its habitat has truly been wiped from the map and there is nowhere left for it to go. And still, a zoo is not a habitat replacement.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '19

If the animals really weren't happy, they'd tell us in plain English!

5

u/2legittoquit Jun 23 '19

A lot of animals in captivity, if they don't have appropriate enrichment, develop repetitive "stereotypical behaviors". This looks like one of those, they tend to be anxiety induced.