Three-legged bear walking upright

[Jenn]

Comment: Is this for real?

[One-Fang]

Well, why not? For a start who'd doctor this up, for what purpose? Secondly there's that two-legged dog that learned to do that, why shouldn't a disabled bear?

Certainly doesn't look like a man in a bear suit, like most big foot sightings, anyway.

[Wicked Tinkerbell]

My observations might have been more constructive if my brain had not kept thinking: "Yogi? And there's Boo Boo. Sure. Walking upright makes it easier for them to carry stolen pic-a-nic baskets."

Damn Hanna Barbara. grumble grumble

The cuts are annoying. That doesn't indicate anything except amateur editing. It is likely a bear that has adapted to having three legs.

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by One-Fang

For a start who'd doctor this up, for what purpose?

You can say that about a great many manipulated and staged images.

[geminilee]

I don't see why it wouldn't be real. Many animals walk on two legs on occasion; the distinction for humans is that we do it almost all the time, as opposed to occasionally or sometimes.

[DemonWolf]

I wonder how many Bigfoot sightings this would account for.

[Jenn]

I think what makes people wonder is how smoothly and easily the bear walks on two legs. Most of the time when you see a bear taking bipedal steps, it's rather lumbering and awkward and clearly not a balance the bear is used to using to walk for any length of time.

Once this bear is upright, however, she walks with an easy, almost human-like stride which looks unnatural enough to make people think that it might be staged. It's most likely that she's learned to walk so well after adapting out of necessity, but looks unusual enough that I don't think it's unreasonable for people to question it.

[Sue Bee]

I think that is probably correct. It is likely easier, and quicker- at least on a flat, for her to ambulate in a bipedal fashion, and the fact that she does it so often has caused her to learn how to do so in such a smooth manner.

[Mycroft]

The problem with people in bear suits is that bear legs are much shorter in proportion to the torso than a human, so that the crotch in a bear suit ends up at knee level, and the legs do not bend properly. In this case the legs/knees are correct.
I assume that the bear spent time in captivity after the amputation and it could have been taught to walk upright (or even learn itself by seeing humans at close range)

[geminilee]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

I assume that the bear spent time in captivity after the amputation and it could have been taught to walk upright (or even learn itself by seeing humans at close range)

I don't think that is necessarily the case. Bears often go for short periods on two legs naturally, and it would not take long for her to realize that was easier and quicker for her than hobbling on all threes (was that in bad taste?).

[JoeBentley]

Originally Posted by DemonWolf

I wonder how many Bigfoot sightings this would account for.

About to say. Some of the shots of the bear walking through the trees partially obscured, obviously alive and bipedal but clearly not human, are a bit otherwordly looking and would be striking if someone took the time to edit out the shots that clearly show its a bear.

I figure much in the same ways humans who lose their arms become incredibly good at manipulating objects with their feet, animals adapt.

ETA: Cites for an actual case studies of similar behavior observed in several injured primates.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...c98b5e4945dc76
http://www.springerlink.com/content/067867j341t13662/

[One-Fang]

Originally Posted by Jenn

You can say that about a great many manipulated and staged images.

Yes but video takes a good deal more work. This is not a 5 second "bigfoot walks past" shot. There's quite a bit here to manipulate if it's digital trickery afoot.

Usually with altered vids there's a purpose. Often nothing more than to fool people, which might be sufficient reason here. But I'm not sure "a bear walking upright" is sufficiently "wow" to make it newsworthy fooling. I mean the plane landing with no wing - that was pretty cool.

[TuFurg]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

About to say. Some of the shots of the bear walking through the trees partially obscured, obviously alive and bipedal but clearly not human, are a bit otherwordly looking and would be striking if someone took the time to edit out the shots that clearly show its a bear.

As I watched I was wondering what types of guesses Snopesters would have come up with had someone done just that.

[Ulkomaalainen]

What I am wondering though is the seemingly clean amputation of the missing leg. Is this common on wild animals?

She may of course been picked up to a doctor and re-released into the wild, but that sounds implausible, too. After all, there would have been the risk that she couldn't adapt to tripedal life, which would have been gruesome on her.

[One-Fang]

I'm guessing that she wasn't simply amputated then released. There would have been a period of ensuring she recovered and could move about freely and forage.

Or it was natural - caught in a bear trap and lost it and it healed up? It's possible.

[RivkahChaya]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

I assume that the bear spent time in captivity after the amputation and it could have been taught to walk upright (or even learn itself by seeing humans at close range)

It's also possible she was born that way. It even looks, in one place, like she may have a small, vestigial paw. That happens when blood flow to an extremity is obstructed in utero. Our neighbor has a dog like that. Anyway, it would go a long way to explaining her survival without theorizing human intervention. It would also mean that she probably did a lot of upright walking as she grew, so her spine and pelvis may have altered their shape a little to accomodate bipedalism, and her muscles would have developed for bipedalism--shorter hamstrings, and stronger quads, maybe-- maybe even influenced the development of her vestibular system-- making it much easier for her to walk that way than it would be if she lost the limb as an adult.