Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
A typical WILD black bear (i.e. one that is not over-weight from eating from dumpsters) weights about as much as a typical human. So while the bear still is stronger than a human, if you attempt to fight back, you have a chance of convincing the bear you're not worth the effort.
That's simply not true. If anything, bears that make a habit of feeding from dumpsters are not as fat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear

Excerpt:

Black bear weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health, and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. Black bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast, although black bears follow Bergmann's rule and bears from the northwest are often slightly heavier than the bears from the southeast. Adult males typically weigh between 57–250 kg (126–551 lb), while females weigh 33% less at 41–170 kg (90–375 lb).[5][37] In the state of California, studies have indicated that the average mass is 86 kg (190 lb) in adult males and 58 kg (128 lb) in adult females.[32] Adult black bears in Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Alaska were found to average 87.3 kg (192 lb) in males and 63.4 kg (140 lb) in females, whereas on Kuiu Island in southeast Alaska (where nutritious salmon are readily available) adult bears averaged an estimated 115 kg (254 lb).[38][39] In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, adult males averaged 112 kg (247 lb) and adult females averaged 47 kg (104 lb) per one study.[40] In Yellowstone National Park, a population study found that adult males averaged 119 kg (262 lb) and adult females averaged 67 kg (148 lb).[41] In New York state, the two sexes reportedly average 135 kg (298 lb) and 74 kg (163 lb), respectively.[42] Adults typically range from 120 to 200 cm (47 to 79 in) in head-and-body length, and 70 to 105 cm (28 to 41 in) in shoulder height. The typically small tail is 7.7–17.7 cm (3.0–7.0 in) long.[34][43][44][45] Although they are the smallest species in North America, large males exceed the size of other bear species except the brown bear and polar bears.[34] The biggest wild American black bear ever recorded was a male from New Brunswick, shot in November 1972, that weighed 409 kg (902 lb) after it had been dressed, meaning it weighed an estimated 500 kg (1,100 lb) in life, and measured 2.41 m (7.9 ft) long.[46] Another notably outsized wild black bear, weighing in at 408 kg (899 lb) in total, was the cattle-killer shot in December 1921 on the Moqui Reservation in Arizona.[46] The record-sized bear from New Jersey was shot in Morris County December 2011 and scaled 376.5 kg (830 lb).[47] Even larger, the most massive black bear recorded in Pennsylvania (one of six weighing over 363 kg (800 lb) shot in the last 15 years in the state) weighed in at 399 kg (880 lb) and was shot in November 2010 in Pike County.[48] The North American Bear Center, located in Ely, Minnesota, is home to the world's largest captive male and female black bears. Ted, the male, weighed 431–453.5 kg (950–1,000 lb) in the fall of 2006.[49] Honey, the female, weighed 219.6 kg (484 lb) in the fall of 2007.[50]



Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
I believe it's a relatively simple numbers game...

A typical grizzly bear is many times heavier and way much more stronger than a human. Fight back is futile. So your only choice is to play dead hoping the bear quits seeing you as a threat.

Put another way, a human against a black bear is like an SUV and a Mini-Cooper getting into an accident. A human against a grizzly bear is like an SUV and a bicycle getting into an accident.

No, it's because the black bear sees you as a food source and the grizzly is simply attempting to protect its young or it's foodsource.


If it was simply a matter of size then you'd be also told to play dead with a polar bear http://nunavutparks.ca/english/visit...ar-safety.html

Excerpt:

"If you experience a polar bear attack use any available weapon such as rocks, blocks of ice, knives, skis or poles."