Russia’s most dangerous bears are savage ruthless cannibals

Cannibalism occurs more frequently among bears than among any other animal group. The world’s largest terrestrial carnivore with an incessantly antagonistic disposition and an innate ability to camouflage that fact, the bear uses his viciousness as a weapon. With stocky feet, small eyes, a broad head, and 28 highly curved claws that are impossible to retract, the bear strikes without notice and eats his victim completely.

I’ve spent weeks stalking bears in Russia’s Taiga region alongside professional hunters. They are tough men, and they don’t sit around the campfire spinning bedtime stories devised to frighten children. The bear is far more preoccupied with wielding ultimate power over his domain than with developing strategy. “Do not pay attention to his facial features,” the huntsmen warn. A bear’s facial muscles are so poorly developed that it’s impossible for him to make the expressions that other animals normally use to telegraph their intentions in the wild.

Long ago, before Vladimir Putin came, Russia’s distant ancestors worshiped the bear as a totem animal; he was the object of mystery cults, which sometimes included ritual sacrifice. The bear, through religious creed and deity and the celestial configuration of Ursa Major, enjoyed exalted status.

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