Posted 12.10.2009 at 12:29 pm
19 Comments
Bald Is Beautiful
via National Geographic
Countless hours wasted watching Locked Up have taught me that prison changes a man. And based on developments in a zoo in Leipzig, Germany, it seems like captivity changes a bear as well.
For almost two years, three bears at the zoo have been going bald. And what began gradually has become a strange and worrying sight. Zoo keepers are stumped by the cause, although they are familiar with the problem.
The spectacled bears, also known as Andean bears, are South America's only indigenous ursine species. Zoo keepers in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia have dealt with balding spectacled bears in the past by varying the diet and cage contents to create a more stimulating environment.
However, the German zoo keepers are stumped. While they are applying an ointment to the bear's skin to prevent irritation (I bet there weren't a lot of volunteers for that job), they don't know whether the balding results from malnutrition, some kind of disease, or simply the stress of doing hard time in animal lock down.
All I know is that if one of the bears appears with "Thug Life" tattooed across her paws, the zoo keepers should probably start worrying.
19 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Popular Tags
Science
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 2013: American Energy Independence
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.
Popular on Popsci
Most Commented
Science
- Scientists Create First Cloned Human Embryo
- State Drops Charges Against High School Student Arrested For Science Experiment
- Dear Schools: Stop Treating Science-Curious Kids Like Criminals
- Mexican Cartels Control Pot Farms As Far North As Washington State
- Buzz Aldrin Wants To Send People On A One-Way Trip To Mars
- Giving White People The Illusion Of Darker Skin Makes Them Less Racist
- Space Tourism's Black Carbon Problem
- What Modern Humans Can Learn From The Neanderthals' Extinction
- Untouched For The Last Billion Years, Water In Canadian Mine Holds Ingredients For Life
- How Do You Make A Painkiller Addiction-Proof?
Most Emailed
Science
- FYI: Do Wind Farms Make It Less Windy?
- FYI: Do Parasites Get Parasites?
- Study Finds Correlation Between Fiscal Conservatism And Big Biceps
- The Week In Numbers: Fire In Space, The First Cloned Human Embryo, And More
- 8 Of The Year's Most Oddly Gorgeous Science Images
- 8 Of The Year's Most Oddly Gorgeous Science Images
- A Zombie Worm And Other Amazing Images From This Week
- A Zombie Worm And Other Amazing Images From This Week
- Cambrian Fossil With Scissor-Like Claws Is Named For Johnny Depp
- First American Mission To Sample An Asteroid Gets Green Light
Most Viewed
Science
- FYI: Do Wind Farms Make It Less Windy?
- FYI: Do Parasites Get Parasites?
- Study Finds Correlation Between Fiscal Conservatism And Big Biceps
- The Week In Numbers: Fire In Space, The First Cloned Human Embryo, And More
- 8 Of The Year's Most Oddly Gorgeous Science Images
- 8 Of The Year's Most Oddly Gorgeous Science Images
- A Zombie Worm And Other Amazing Images From This Week
- A Zombie Worm And Other Amazing Images From This Week
- Cambrian Fossil With Scissor-Like Claws Is Named For Johnny Depp
- First American Mission To Sample An Asteroid Gets Green Light
Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2012 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
XD nice joke at the end
That is one scary bear. Looks like an extra from a vampire/werewolf movie.
I see X files in that bears future!
the poor thing looks miserable.
Looks like one of those radiation contaminated bears that attack you on the xbox game Fallout.
That's no bear, it looks like my neighbor.
Get that human out of the bear suit!
omfg wtf is that?!! srsly. wtf is that?!
freudianslipnslide.blogspot.com
We finally get to see a picture of FUZZY WUZZY
Now before I saw this picture I thought I was nearly the ugliest thing on the planet. But now I can see that I pity the poor animal and I do not hold the ugly title anymore.
Its time to move the bears to a different (better?) environment obviously...before they die.
How unfair to the animals. Here in Calgary, we had polar bears that went nuts from pacing back and forth. They too died unfortunately.
lol. i think suggestivesimon is right. i looks like a werewolf.
correction:
"it" looks like a werewolf. i do not.
Despite the rather horrible image, it does point out the similarities between ursids (albeit with their flat rear paws) and canids, which have a common ancestry dating back to 35 - 38 million years ago.
Everyone knows that bears are big practical jokers. I think what is happening is that the bears have gotten their hands (or paws) on a set of hair clippers and just think it's funny as all get out to shave one of their buddies when he's passed out drunk.
omg soooooooooooooooooo cute! im not lying that thing is adorable
for some reason it reminds me of the rabbit suit from Donnie Darko...
This kinda looks like whats been happening to my step-fathers dog. Washing him with HIBICLENS for the most part has been fighting off what ever was infecting his skin. those poor bears.
They are smart animlas to think of that.
They keep me here because people want to come and look at me.
If I am hideous they will stop coming and they will let me out.
Good strategy.
They are a lot more sinister looking without their hair.
How unfair to the animals. Here in Calgary, we had polar bears that went nuts from pacing back and forth. They too died unfortunately.
www.eprostateproblems.com/