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Grizzly bear myth

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5K views 59 replies 23 participants last post by  freestoneangler 
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#1 ·
Few people live or play in grizzly bear country. The only grizzly in California is on their State flag. Many people are curious about these bears and there is plenty of misunderstanding about them. My favorite:

"If you are attacked by a grizzly, run down hill."

What dream whip for brains came up with this one?

Grizzlies are fast uphill or downhill. How fast? Well, the fastest human, and I'm referring to Olympic sprinters, can only run 25 mph, and then only for a very short distance. The typical in-shape human tops out at 11 mph.

Grizzlies are 30 mph sprinters.

You do the math.

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#53 ·
Horses aren't nearly as stupid as cattle or sheep. A cow is so dumb all you need to do is paint a cattle guard on a paved road and they won't cross it... I mean talk about a Wild E. Coyote/ Road Runner bit.
A painted on cattle guard?! I doubt if a horse would fall for that one.

And sheep are even more dumb... they let a dog herd them into a pen.
 
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#54 ·
It seems to me many domesticated animals have been selectively bred for compliance. There are plenty of exceptions of course like dogs bred for fighting. The upside is people don't often get seriously injured trying to shear a sheep, but I've seen sheep run to a corner of a pen while dogs chew their asses off. I wonder if cows still had the disposition of their ancestors, what they would be like. They'd still be prey animals, but I'm guessing a water buffalo would cross the faux cattle guard painted on the road.

I've never attended an autopsy of a cow or sheep, but if you ever saw a horses brain you'd be amazed how small it is compared to its size. An 1100 lb horses brain is about the size of a couple of walnuts. A dog by comparison has a huge brain.

Horses, like any domesticated animal can be trained, conditioned, and when they see a human as the Alpha, it's a truly wonderful relationship. I'm not old school in that regard. There are plenty of humane ways of achieving this and beating a horse is not my style. Horses are never going to perform algebra equations. They may not have a large developed brain, but they've got the instincts of Obi Wan Kenobi.

I don't see any evidence that a human can breed instinct out of an animal, but sheep might be pretty close.

The introduction of wolves into my home ground has been an adventure of sorts. One of the most interesting parts is the response of horses to them. These horses had never seen a wolf, but they saw and lived with plenty of canis lupus; the domestic dog. How much different is a wolf from, say a husky? They look nearly identical, and behave similarly, but they tolerate the husky and go psycho over a wolf.

Some part of a horses instinctual brain sees a HUGE difference.
 
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