Lions, Tigers, Bears...and Humans!

Polar bears, as many of us know, are the largest of the bears, males weighing in sometimes at 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. Big! (Imagine one next to your 10-lb. cat or 60-lb. lab.) We know them mostly from endangered species campaigns and as a mascot for Coca-Cola, gloriously white, fuzzy, and charming. Once, I had a similar experience as the green-shirted boy above. I was in the Columbia (South Carolina) zoo in the late Fall -- picture grey skies and hardly a customer wandering the grounds. My friend and I strolled down steps into an underground tunnel and viewing chamber, one wall made of three sections of 8-ft tall and several inches thick Plexiglas. We peered into the blue-watered world of the resident polar bear, and he peered back at us through the giant windows. I placed my hand flush on the transparent wall, and the bear extended his giant paw against mine and held it there. I was astonished! And then, the great white swimmer suddenly scrambled to the surface to suck down a fresh batch of air and just as quickly returned to again place his paw against my friendly hand. Again, the bear swam up and plunged down, and again. Finally, my friend and I decided to go. I left reluctantly and watched the bear watch us as we walked away, a sad and incredulous expression on his broad face. Or, maybe I was projecting. Still, what was that all about? Emerson explains, and rightly so, that Nature would just as soon drown us as stroke us, and if anyone has seen Grizzly Man, she knows that bears see us the same way, basically as something to be ignored or eaten. So, what about this apparently common behavior of reaching for a human hand to paw-high-5 with and connect to its owner? Is it the zoo environment? Are we visitors temporary, surrogate handlers? Possible bearers (sorry) of food? Or is there some mammalian bond borne by our DNA and consequently, our aura? I doubt it, but it's fun to think about.