Polar Bear Looks Cuddly, But Beware

The white and fluffy polar bear may be cute to look at but if provoked, he can rip you to shreds in seconds. There's much more than meets the eye with this resident of the Arctic Circle

Sitting in your living room, watching wildlife on the Discovery channel, the first appearance where you see a polar bear frolicking in the snow would make you feel they are the cutest, cuddliest things on earth. You can blame it on all those lovely toy stores where you see these pristine white, soft and furry teddies and almost invariably pick one as a gift for your godchild. But in real life, though they are of calm temperament, they are not all that playful or harmless as they do appear in their candid moments.

Of course, as always in nature these marine mammals do not harm human beings, unprovoked. It is only in the face of imminent danger that they attack. And should they do that, they can rip you apart in no time. To give you an idea of their strength, in a head-to-head fight, if a full-grown tiger faced a full-grown polar bear, the cutie would be the winner! Their larger mass, stronger bite force, and greater stamina would allow them to outlast the tiger, smaller and weaker of the two. Even a gorilla would succumb to a polar bear.