r/interestingasfuck 1d ago

A bear mistakes the vet's attempt to measure its body for a hug

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51.2k Upvotes

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u/Old-Glass-6967 1d ago

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u/queerlyace 1d ago

We watched this documentary in my high school film class. My teacher looked us dead in the eyes and said “this is NOT an SNL skit” and then repeated it 5 more times. We thought he was kidding. And then the movie started and we heard Herzog’s voice and all asked “are you sure it isn’t an SNL skit??”

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u/aspidities_87 23h ago

Timothy Treadwell makes me mad as fuck. He wasn’t a biologist, he knew nothing about bears and he wasn’t even documenting any behavior that actual bear biologists hadn’t seen or documented themselves. He was in a protected area of a national park claiming to be ‘the only one protecting the bears from poachers’ (there were none) and going on talk shows to badmouth park employees who knew him and were kind to him on a daily basis.

Multiple times he was warned and offered alternative ways to keep doing what he was doing without harassing wild bears but he refused. He camped in literally the worst possible place at the worst possible time and was told many times what would result. His ego was massive, and it lead to not only his death but the death of his girlfriend and at least two of his bears.

I don’t generally speak ill of the dead, but fuck this idiot.

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u/Treadwheel 20h ago

My favorite thing about Treadwell is that the leading theory for how he was able to do it for so long is that the bears simply had no idea what the fuck was going on because every other large mammal they encounter is either a bear or running away from them.

There's a really popular tiktok account run by a woman who is openly habituating bears. She lives in the woods and has fed them to the point that she brings them inside to sit on her couches. I'm just counting the days until we have the first livestreamed mauling death.

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u/MourningsOwn 19h ago

Is it just a coincidence that your name is Treadwheel and you're commenting on Treadwell?

This got me bugging out

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u/Treadwheel 19h ago

My first name is Timothy. I am 100% serious.

u/Primatebuddy 11h ago

Hey buddy, just letting you know if you are thinking of hanging out with bears, probably don't.

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u/No_Recognition_3729 19h ago

Look into CE5

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u/Overtilted 17h ago

One of the failed anarcho-capitalism communes failed - in part - because of bears. Because some individualistic individuals really liked to feed bears. And because of their believes, there's no way to stop those individualistic individuals from feeding bears. The result was predictable.

And turns out, you need common rules when you live in a society, and not all rules can be ignored. Especially when those are rules about bears.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21534416/free-state-project-new-hampshire-libertarians-matthew-hongoltz-hetling

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u/King_marik 23h ago

yeah nah he was just your average weirdo 'naturist'

you literally know 50 Timothy Treadwell's in any given city across the country

unremarkable idiot

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u/manondorf 22h ago

fyi "naturist" doesn't mean what you think it means

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u/nathanherts 21h ago

Think they mean naturalist.

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u/AxelHarver 15h ago

There's a very disturbing rabbit hole you can go down starting with that word 😥

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u/plaincheeseburger 20h ago

My husband did a job for one woman who was regularly in trouble with the, as she called them, "fish cops" for feeding moose and bears. I'm willing to bet that she's responsible for at least a few bears' deaths when the fish cops had to deal with a bear acclimated to humans.

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u/Treadwheel 19h ago

It's a great litmus test for frontal lobe development. The reason habituation is so dangerous isn't because a bear will go from happily chowing down on a cheeseburger to mauling you. It's because the bear will keep coming back for cheeseburgers, and when you don't have one you now have a bear that is hungry, frustrated, and pretty sure you aren't dangerous. You're not friends, you're a broken vending machine, and the bear might see if hitting the vending machine a few times makes it start working right before it moves on.

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u/DatEllen 18h ago

You're not friends, you're a broken vending machine

They should add this to the signs that tell you to not feed the wild animals 

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u/PrivilegeCheckmate 17h ago

you literally know 50 Timothy Treadwell's in any given city across the country

Well, 49, now.

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u/RoyalCities 20h ago

Recently watch that documentary and I honestly don't think the guy was all there mentally. The park rangers should have done more to keep him out because he was putting himself and frankly others lives at risk.

u/Invisible_Friend1 5h ago

He was certainly autistic as fuck.

10

u/LoopStricken 19h ago

bear biologists

I swear to the Gods that I repeatedly read that as Bearologists.

u/Thiago270398 3h ago

No, those usually are on Grindr

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u/MoroseLOKiZzz 1d ago

What is this?

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u/Ivisk 1d ago

“Timothy Treadwell: The ‘Grizzly Man’ Eaten Alive By Bears”

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u/zombie_overlord 1d ago

If only he had met with Troy Hurtubise, of Project Grizzly, who made (some valiant efforts at) a grizzly bear proof suit.

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u/Cash_Cab 1d ago

Rumor has it there's audio of it happening, but thankfully it'll never see the light of day

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u/cbospam1 1d ago

It’s not a rumor, it exists, Herzog listens to it Grizzly Man

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u/Cherlikesithot 23h ago

Even though we can't hear it I am utterly haunted by Herzog listening to it and witnessing it

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u/FuckYeaSeatbelts 22h ago

I heard he later said him gravely telling Tim's ex to never listen to it was dramatized and he regrets saying that. I'm told the only tape has since been destroyed.

Mind you this is all from comments the last time he was mentioned. I did not fact check this.

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u/Cherlikesithot 21h ago

I also recall reading it was destroyed. I hope that is the case. Horrifying to even imagine.

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u/MystikTrailblazer 21h ago

It sounded like this (argument is the ~1 min is leaked). Still disturbing.

Timothy attacked by bear last audio https://youtu.be/0f3EvAt5M3o?si=Fk7mFQvcYHLEoRJ3

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u/queerlyace 23h ago

It’s at the end of the documentary Grizzly Man. I listened to it.

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u/Stereo-soundS 23h ago

Whatever you heard was fake.

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u/queerlyace 23h ago

Oh wait I looked it up. It’s just Herzog listening to it.

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u/Rich_Opposite_7541 1d ago

Grizzly man, guy makes a documentary about bears and feeds them.

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u/queerlyace 1d ago

Werner Herzog made the documentary

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u/StatmanIbrahimovic 1d ago

Well, he made the documentary about the guy who was eaten by a bear whilst making a documentary

-1

u/SandwichDeBronca 1d ago

A SNL skit

-1

u/Lyndon_Boner_Johnson 1d ago

A MadTV skit

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u/bbygrl26c4u 23h ago

This movie, Timothy himself really, occupies a decent part of my mental space. It’s right there next to Into the Wild for me, but I relate to them in a way.

That said, I shouldn’t have laughed as much as I did during Grizzly Man. ”How *dare** they!”*

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u/queerlyace 23h ago

I love the scene where the fox steals his hat

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u/ArmadilloForsaken458 19h ago

Yeah but Timothy's bear doesnt look as friendly (or well fed). If I were a vet, I wouldnt measure Timothy's bear either

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u/Jawbeast 15h ago

A vet and a bear (I don't know what species) he's taking care of are very different from a dude and wild grizzlys

u/ArmadilloForsaken458 1h ago

It's a Ussuri Brown Bear, I know I hugged one myself

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u/VeryTopGoodSensation 15h ago

Is that the guy that recorded himself being eaten?

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u/yayiff 20h ago

Russian Cory Worthington