posted
ho, I'd vote fake. The little white seal is obviously fake; no way it could have an appendage so big ressembling a japanese girl... Posts: 20 | From: Montréal | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I feel sorry for the little girl. Plus, I can't understand what everyone was laughing about.
-------------------- Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction - Antoine de Saint-Exupery Posts: 1961 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2004
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Stress like that could turn the poor animal into a bipolarbear.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Cruel...just cruel. Didn't these folks ever learn that you shouldn't taunt the animals at the zoo?
-------------------- "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - G.K. Chesterton Posts: 1514 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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Ciro y Alicia
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
My sentiments exactly, I felt sorry for the poor bear. I know the thing was obviously staged as a prank, but serves the girl right being scared like that. I almost hoped he would get through the (unfortunately unbreakable) glass and take a chomp out of her butt for taunting him like that. Some people.
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Was that a little girl? You can see some pretty long fingernails and spiky boots on her at the end, and at one point you can see that even without the seal hat she is about as tall as a man in the background. I figured she's a small statured young lady, but not a little girl.
-------------------- Natural selection is a beguiling counterfeiter of deliberate purpose. - Richard Dawkins Posts: 620 | From: Alaska | Registered: Apr 2004
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Panda_Marie
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
quote:Originally posted by Ciro y Alicia: My sentiments exactly, I felt sorry for the poor bear. I know the thing was obviously staged as a prank, but serves the girl right being scared like that. I almost hoped he would get through the (unfortunately unbreakable) glass and take a chomp out of her butt for taunting him like that. Some people.
Sadly, if this happened, the bear may have been put down for violent behavior.
Which would have made things even worse, because it wouldn't have been the bear's fault that it was provoked.
Panda "sticking up for my fellow bears" Marie
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snopester EQ Taft and I once saw a tiger do very much the same thing at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. He sprang up the hill at us and clung to the chain-link fencing of his enclosure (very much like a kitten on a screen door!)
Also fun is watching the panther at the zoo...as he watches the little kids and toddlers walking in front of his enclosure. You can hear him counting their calories...
Silas
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Zoo animals can get easily agitated by seeing things that are outside of their "norm." I've seen many different animals react strangely to all sorts of seemingly innocuous stimuli, like keepers that were on the "wrong" side of the fence, people dressed in costumes, etc. (Seeing gorillas react to a seeing-eye dog was a real treat.) Animals get used to a certain kind of visitor flow, and it amazingly doesn't take much to upset the equilibrium. (Situationally, of course.)
Polar bears LOVE to play, and are very active, which is why they make good zoo animals. Looks to me it's just having some fun with a silly-dressed person.
-------------------- Mr. Sagan did not go too fars, If you just took the time to scan its, You'd count billions and billions of stars, And billions and billions of planets. Posts: 332 | From: Kansas City, MO | Registered: Jan 2004
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Joe Bentley
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
quote:Originally posted by Electrotiger: (Seeing gorillas react to a seeing-eye dog was a real treat.)
I saw two mountains lions react to a seeing eye dog pretty wildly at the North Carolina zoo. They didn't pounce or attack or anything but they both bolted straight up, ran over to the glass and just fixed this dog with the most unnerving stare you can imagine. It was pretty freaky looking.
-------------------- "Existence has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long." - Rorschach, The Watchmen Posts: 8929 | From: Norfolk, Virginia | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
That "girl" is a famous Japanese celebrity* who makes her living off of doing silly things like that. It's not a "fake" in that the bear is real. She was probably genuinely pretty frightened too. I guess.
*I couldn't find an appropriate English link. Her name is Yuko Ogura so you can search for yourself.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
Is this really cruel? I'm sure the polar bear enjoyed the distraction, it's not like it had a whole hell of alot else to do. Is it so far fetched to believe that stuff like this is amusing both for people, AND for the animals? And if your one of these people who just can't abide by this sort of thing, how can you make it through a walk in the park what with all those people torturing their dogs with stick and frisbees? the poor dog brings it back every time only to have their bastard throw the danm thing again. uhh, people make sick.
Posts: 45 | From: Memphis, TN | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: That "girl" is a famous Japanese celebrity* who makes her living off of doing silly things like that. It's not a "fake" in that the bear is real. She was probably genuinely pretty frightened too. I guess.
*I couldn't find an appropriate English link. Her name is Yuko Ogura so you can search for yourself.
I kind of disagree about Ogura being genuinely frightened. I also live in Japan and know that the reactions of "tarento" and "idol" are terribly faked; Ogura Yuko and Satou Tamao being the biggest fakers of them all. The worst thing is that faked overreaction is seen as really cute and feminine there.
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quote:Originally posted by Ganzfeld: That "girl" is a famous Japanese celebrity* who makes her living off of doing silly things like that. It's not a "fake" in that the bear is real. She was probably genuinely pretty frightened too. I guess.
*I couldn't find an appropriate English link. Her name is Yuko Ogura so you can search for yourself.
I kind of disagree about Ogura being genuinely frightened. I also live in Japan and know that the reactions of "tarento" and "idol" are terribly faked; Ogura Yuko and Satou Tamao being the biggest fakers of them all. The worst thing is that faked overreaction is seen as really cute and feminine there.
I had given her the benefit of the doubt becasue I haven't seen her much on TV. It certainly is not unusual for these overreactions (and plenty of setups, too) to be faked so you're probably right.
Posts: 4922 | From: Kyoto, Japan | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Silas Sparkhammer: snopester EQ Taft and I once saw a tiger do very much the same thing at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. He sprang up the hill at us and clung to the chain-link fencing of his enclosure (very much like a kitten on a screen door!)
Also fun is watching the panther at the zoo...as he watches the little kids and toddlers walking in front of his enclosure. You can hear him counting their calories...
Silas
One of my favorite memories from Las Vegas is watching the white tiger in its enclosure at the Mirage (not sure if it's still there now that Siggie and Roy are out of business.)
This couple came up right in front of the glass with their toddler, and I swear, from the moment they appeared, that tiger never took his eye off that little girl. After a while, it swam over (the glass faced the tiger's swimming pool) and made several menacing passes by the tyke, eyeballing her hungrily.
Everyone watching, including the little girl, knew what the tiger had in mind for her (if he could get ahold of a glass cutter and some opposable thumbs,) except her oblivious parents.
They kept saying, "Oh look! He likes you, Maggie! The big kitty wants to play!" The little girl wasn't buying it, though, so I guess she must have gotten some "common sense" genes that skipped a generation.
-------------------- "I only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." -Voltaire Posts: 42 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Captain Spaulding: Everyone watching, including the little girl, knew what the tiger had in mind for her (if he could get ahold of a glass cutter and some opposable thumbs,) except her oblivious parents.
Not to be snarky, but what did you expect them to say, "Hey honey, looks like the tiger thinks you're deliscious! I bet he'll be breaking through the glass and eating you any second now..."
quote:Originally posted by Captain Spaulding: Everyone watching, including the little girl, knew what the tiger had in mind for her (if he could get ahold of a glass cutter and some opposable thumbs,) except her oblivious parents.
Not to be snarky, but what did you expect them to say, "Hey honey, looks like the tiger thinks you're deliscious! I bet he'll be breaking through the glass and eating you any second now..."
Well, that's what my dad would have said to me when I was a little'un...
Silas
Posts: 16801 | From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
In the second scene, I just have to say, that bear makes a magnificant jump. Just imagine seeing that coming at you in real life!
-------------------- a moment for old friends now estranged, victims of the flux of alliances and changing perceptions. There was something there once, and that something is worth honoring as well. - John Carroll Posts: 3375 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
When my kids get scared at that, or a clown, or a dragon, I get them away from there instead of forcing them to face their dread head on.
As for that leap, wasn't that magnificent? Her fear for that moment seemed pure, but the hyperbole afterwards lost it for me.
Posts: 2064 | From: New Brunswick, Canada | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Rehcsif: Not to be snarky, but what did you expect them to say, "Hey honey, looks like the tiger thinks you're deliscious! I bet he'll be breaking through the glass and eating you any second now..."
Maybe the parents weren't so oblivious after all
-Tim
No snark intended, no snark taken, Tim. To answer your question, I would expect the parents to take their terrified child away from the hungry tiger. Maybe go check out Circus Circus. They have plenty of clowns and whatnot over there to inflict further emotional scars on the kid.
-------------------- "I only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." -Voltaire Posts: 42 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Sep 2005
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"quote:Originally posted by naharnahekim: Is this really cruel? I'm sure the polar bear enjoyed the distraction
I think most of us thought crashing into a sheet of glass wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world.
If you throw your stick above a glass railing so your dog goes off to fetch it and smashes into the railing, then that might be comparable.
-Tim"
From the video, it doesn't look to me like there bear di infact crash into the glass. Watch carefully in the second angl (focused on the girl) you can se his paw in the upper left graze the glass. In the first shot it looks as though he jumps just short of the glass, also there is no telling "thump", of course that could be covered by the laughing audience or the splash sound.
The first time I saw this I unconsiously assumed that a polar bear (which are fairly clever, unless I'm mistaken) would know the bounderies of the home it has lived in for (probably) most of it's life. I could be wrong and it could have smacked right into the glass. Even still I think it's entertaining. Both for us, and I imagine the bear too.
For more fun with animals see this:http://www.muchosucko.com/video-zebradummies.html some of the ads might be a little risque
Posts: 45 | From: Memphis, TN | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
The bear wouldn't have noticed clumping into the glass even if it barrelled into it full force - they are incredibley tough animals, and whilst this obviously isn't a wild specimen, it is still built for smashing through snow and ice with it's face and paws to snatch seal pups etc...
-------------------- This is where I come up with something right? Something really clever... Posts: 6552 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
No, the bear does not crash int the glass. It dives into the water just short of the glass and turns at the bottom, allowing a shoulder to brush the glass underwater.
A seal would have been diving, hence the bear's instincts are proper. It definitely knows the limits of the enclosure as it turns prior to hitting the glass.
Hard to tell if the bear was having fun or really trying to attack. Quite impressive and would have momentarily scared anyone standing there. I would not expect a bear to leap that far. The actress probably expected the bear to slide into the water and swim over.
Related to other comments, I have also noted that big cats seem to really track kids in the area. Again, whther they see them as prey or are just interested is left as an exercise for the reader.
James Powell
Posts: 588 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I think the video is a genuine stunt from the looney Japanese show that also brought the water bottle jet propel launcher episode too in a previous video gallery showoff here. She probably was paid to wear that silly bear hat and go in the aquarium since there was a camera there too and she got polar bear frightened as it dashed to the glass.
-------------------- Joseph Z Posts: 1356 | From: Woodbridge, VA | Registered: Jul 2004
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