I feel like everyone in Canada spends at least a few minutes a week thinking about bears. If they’re not

rummaging in garbage, they are busy hibernating or standing at the top of a waterfall catching lunch with

their teeth.

We have a strange relationship with bears. On the one hand they are highly intelligent and dangerous animals

that we generally try to avoid. But on the other hand, we think they’re very cute and make little toys out of

them for children. We don’t generally make toys out of other things that might kill you, so what makes bears

special? Did they behave better in the past, and they’ve just been grumpy for the last few centuries?

What gives?