Even if you live in a city far from the furry paws of bears, you probably know this advice: If you’re attacked by a bear, play dead. In reality, it’s much more complicated than that. Playing dead only works with grizzly bears.
If you’re attacked by a black bear, you’d better fight for your life and get as far away as quickly as possible.
Or, better yet, avoid the confrontation entirely.That is, unless you’ve been in the bear’s sights for hours. It turns out that the black bears most likely to attack are not the mother bears protecting their cubs—those only act threatening to get you to go away.
It’s male black bears who think you might make a tasty treat. According to Dr. Herrero from the University of Calgary, you might not even see the bear coming. “It’s quiet,” says Herrero. “It stalks you just like a lion might stalk you.”
Once a bear has decided you’re its prey, it might quietly stalk you, sometimes even crawling in the brush, circle behind you, and once it’s close enough, charge at the speed of a horse to land the killing bite. When a black bear is trying to eat you, playing dead is probably not the way to go.
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