Why do black bears appeal to our imagination so much?

(Heard of Bruno?)

They look like giant, friendly dogs.
They are not.

I’ve been face to face with a Grizzly cub at 4 in the morning coming back from latrine in Yellowstone. He stood almost as tall as I was !

I can talk about it so I survived.

Starting off as kids, most of us were given teddy bears to cuddle with. So it is deep rooted in us that bears are cute and cuddly.

Actually, tall Dutchmen appear in my imagination much more often than black bears. :-)

And look at the number of people who adore Pandas. But I think @chyna hit the nail on the head.

The Black bears around my property love my blueberries and trash.

They are beautiful animals. The cubs are simply adorable.

They a gentle giants. I have been about 10 feet from then in my garage. My imagination went to having my face ripped off.

Because they are mysterious ( black) and wild, yet look friendly but in rality they can’t see that well but can smell a great distance and are territorial.

Once they find a food source ( your garbage, berries etc) they will keep going to it.

Not a good idea to encourage ( the cubs) as they have a long memory and return.