I knew they were big bears but not TWICE A HUMAN size! I didn't even google this image for the polar bear I wanted to see how big a black bear is.

guess I'm never going to Antarctica!

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[–] 83 points 18 hours ago (7 children)

They're northern Hemisphere, not Antarctica. We have them in our province (Manitoba), but yes they're big. On average tho not quite as big as the painting there shows.

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  • [–] 13 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

    This would be a female bear, as she is with her cubs. Polar bears are actually the second most sexually dimorphic mammal. Consequently males are vastly bigger than females.

    The most sexually dimorphic? The elephant seal. Those dudes are immense.

    Edit: this, I read on wikipedia a couple of years ago. The information is no longer there but the fact that polar bears and elephant seals are among the most dimorphic mammals remains. The precise ranking is perhaps a little more obscure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

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  • [–] 9 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

    I knew it! Seeing them in a Zoo many years back I got the impression they were pretty big but not THAT massive.

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  • [–] 15 points 16 hours ago* (1 child)

    I think the painting shows the largest they've found, not the norm. It's like showing Robert Wadlow (The tallest guy in the world at 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadlow) to show the size of humans. Yes we can get that large, but it's an extreme example.

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  • [–] 6 points 15 hours ago (1 child)

    If one of the average sized ones rises up in front of you and roars, I bet it would look just as big as that painting.

    Can anyone confirm? Probably not.

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  • [–] 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

    Yup, Not many people get the opportunity to see one up close and live to tell about it, unless there's something REALLY solid in between them. Like that Nat Geo guy in the cage. https://youtu.be/U-S4NbX5IYE They're absolutely terrifying up close...

    They don't typically roar tho, unless they're fighting or f..uh screwing. And they're not scared of anything.

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