Polar bears have become the poster animals for climate change. And we’ve seen pictures of them at both their mightiest and their most vulnerable.
These are the bears native to the Arctic Circle, weighing hundreds of pounds. In fact, they’re the largest land carnivores on Earth (with Kodiak bears) giving them a run for their money.
Speaking of running – these bears can run up to 25mph on land and swim at roughly 6mph. So always bring a slower friend with you to the Arctic!
Going hunting
Just because they’re deadly doesn’t mean they aren’t cute though.
Of course, if you like seals, you probably don’t want to watch the two interact since the bears use ice patches to play a pretty brutal game of Whack-a-mole with them.
And hunting is hard work. Seals only come up for air every 30 minutes, so polar bear cubs have to learn to become patient observers if they want to eat.
In a popular BBC clip uploaded to YouTube in 2017, a mother and her cubs are out hunting. Technically, she’s teaching them how to catch his dinner so they can fend for themselves someday – but the cubs don’t realize that.
From predator to play
The BBC captured an unexpected moment as they were filming their documentary. Now, over 11 million people have watched the video, titled, “Polar bear cub is surprised by a seal.”
Let’s just say there probably wasn’t much feasting going on after this.
As the video begins, the mama bear and her female cub wait next to a hole in the ice for a seal to emerge. But as little ones are wont to do, the male gets bored and manages to find a snowball to amuse himself.
But mom knows that dinner awaits beneath the water.
Hunting can be boring work and she looks like she’s about to nod off for a minute there. But if she’s made it this far, she’s capable of getting fierce once she sees movement.
As the little male cub wanders away from the hole his mother and sister are waiting at, he finds another one. And THAT’S where the first seal decides to poke its head up for air!
Since he’s been goofing off, he’s just not ready for it. There’s also quite a size difference here (and frankly, we aren’t sure what he would have been able to do if he did attack).
But it doesn’t matter anyway since he was so shocked by the sight of the seal that it literally knocked him over!
The cub fell backward like a cartoon character. And it was clearly not what the seal was expecting!
In fact, the seal can’t believe what he just got away with. It’s like he’s thinking “wow, polar bears are getting really small these days.”
The delighted reaction
We’re happy for the seal, but it looks like one little cub is going to need to pay closer attention to mom from now on if he doesn’t want to go hungry.
Of course, people loved the adorable moment and thousands took to the comment section to delight in the blooper.
“Imagine taking a morning walk and getting surprised by a sandwich,” one viewer joked.
Another added:
“I’d be surprised too if dinner popped up from the floor in front of me.”
Plenty of people brought up the little brother dynamic too. One quoted the narrator: “Her brother prefers.. making snowballs” before adding “oh so not just in the human world then?”
Be sure to scroll down below to watch the adorable video.
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