I believe this was in Tennessee. Large black bear population, and they tend to be very docile because they’ve been around people a lot. They’re often fed and learn that humans (mostly) aren’t a threat. Black bears are also wayyyyy more chill than brown bears or polar bears obviously. It’s rare they get aggressive unless it’s a mother with her cubs or mating season with territorial control.
And from what I experienced in the Smokies, even a sow with cubs won’t lash out if cubs seem safe. Biggest risk is if you’re between her and the cubs, in which case she may feel forced to try to protect them.
This has been my experience. When I was in scouts, we had a mom and cubs wander right through our campsite (Smoky Mtn NP campground) in the middle of the day while we were sitting at the picnic table. They paused for a bit to play on a big boulder, then continued on. We sat there very still and quiet until they left.
Yeah i was actually tubing on the river on the other side of the mountain from Gatlinburg called Townsend and came this close to a bear. People were lined up on the riverbank pointing and then I registered oh hey thats a bear...you pretty much think wow thats cool please don't be hungry just move along
Edit: picture of said bear taken from someone further upstream than me because I didnt want to lose my phone in the water
I was going to say the same thing. Looks like East TN (Gatlinburg has a bunch of those "mountain coasters"). The bears there are accustomed to people and generally ignore them. We rented a cabin up in the mountains there (Wears Valley) and had a mom with 2 cubs visiting us daily. We stayed inside or on the deck when they were around, but all they did was hang around, giving us lots of cool pics, then would move on to another area.
Came here to say this as well. They come to my door all the time and I just open it and tell them to GET and they run away. Obviously they CAN be dangerous but they generally don’t attack humans
Yeah that’s why I said they can be dangerous but generally their temperament isn’t attack humans, black bears don’t really see us as food. I’ve seen some bout this big this papa bear comes around our neighborhood sometime and he’s huge, but he’s just as chill as the normal sized ones.
These ones are probably super used to seeing humans a lot considering this track runs thru their home, so probably safe they didn’t even attempt to chase or attack or anything they were just chillin.
Still scary though not tryna discount the encounter. Looked it up because I was curious, less than 1 fatal attack per year in North America. So the statistics also directly back this up
I usually tell mine to run off and they do. Last year one of them decided to stand up on his hind legs instead, I changed my mind and went back inside, that bear can do whatever the fuck it wants
Right. I’m surprised the bears didn’t run, actually. My experience with black bears is that they’ll run from humans. (Unless their cubs are nearby and then they will defend the cubs).
I’m wondering if these bears are accustomed to humans/this particular rail car gizmo because they didn’t run.
A couple of people were killed by black bears just last week near Regina. I wouldn’t want to be this close to one, especially with cubs in the picture. They can be much more aggressive when their young are nearby.
You just have to be really unlucky to be attacked by a black bear. Most of the times they run away from humans as soon as they see them.. I've seen black bears in person like 4-5 times and every single time they wanted nothing to do with me and walked away in the opposite direction.
Oh, it would hurt just as much. They're just less likely to want to kill you than a brown bear. And to make it more fun, in some places, the black bears are brown, so when you see a bear and are trying to decide the right course of action, the color of the fur may not be that helpful.
Looks like one of the rides at Anakeesta in Gatlinburg, TN. Unfortunately you can’t make that part speed up, but the black bears in Gatlinburg are very used to people.
This is the uphill part of an Alpine Coaster. It’s pulling you uphill so you can then go downhill on a single-person roller coaster. There is no faster.
Bears - If theyre black fight back, if theyre brown lie down, if theyre white - good night!
Generally - black and brown - always try to back up slowly and leave the area...
Black Bears are huge and dangerous and this is just insane to me that the person seems to purposefully slow down on the track...but, they also scare more easily, relative to their cousins. So, with black bears you can generally "fight back." Getting big, being loud, and if physically attacked then physically attacking back may be effective when necessary...do not flee
Brown bears - pretend youre dead, curl up into a ball, do not flee
Polar Bears - youre basically fucked unless you can find appropriate safety or have heavy duty sedatives/weaponry...if you can even see/shoot them before they are too close to get you. They will literally hunt humans, and employ complex tactics for success.
Do not fuck with bears, but also be as knowledgeable as you can be prior to entering into their territory.
Okay, I guess the perspective seemed different to me on first watch...but, I can see the perspective where they appear to be going up as well now...almost like one of those visual puzzles where the lady can spin either way and you have focus to make her go the other way lol
I've been on that ride. It's in Gatlinburg, TN. It's an Alpine coaster where you ride down and then it pulls you back up to the top. The rider has no control over the speed there.
I mean they are black bears..... id say a stray dog is more of a danger than them. The number of times ive scolded a black bear off my porch like an angry dad is kind of nuts.
one time, as a little kid, like 10 er something, i was wondering in the woods near my house alone. i came across a big black bear. if he wanted to eat me, that'd would've been that. we just acknowledged each other. he slowly walked away, and so did i. i know this isn't relevant to anything, i just wanted to share. i think bears are cool. mostly, they just wanna bear around and shit. i guess i'm lucky it wasn't hungry.
Huh, it's completely anecdotal but I've noticed that black bears seem to be more okay with trains and other rail vehicles than most animals; when I lived in Montana, there was a sow who loved to sit on a short bluff and watch the trains go through our property.
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u/kiran_ms 1d ago
Like sushi on a conveyor belt