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The Problem Behind a Viral Video of a Persistent Baby Bear (theatlantic.com)
Ed Yong, writing for The Atlantic: For many people, a two-and-a-half-minute video of a baby brown bear trying to scale a snow-covered mountain was a life-affirming testament to the power of persistence. As it begins, the cub is standing with its mother on the side of a perilously steep ridge. The mother begins walking across, and despite slipping a few times on the loose snow, she soon reaches the top. Her cub, following tentatively after her, isn't so fortunate. It loses its footing and slides several feet. It pulls itself together and reattempts the ascent, before slipping again.
Finally, the cub nears the top. But as the footage zooms in to focus on the moment of reunion, the mother inexplicably swipes at the youngster with her paw, sending it hurtling downward again. It slides a long way, scrabbling for purchase and finding some just before it hits a patch of bare rock. Once again, it starts to climb, and after what seems like a nail-biting eternity for anyone watching, it reaches its mother. The two walk away.
The video was uploaded to the ViralHog YouTube channel on Friday, and after being shared on Twitter, it rapidly went viral. At the time of this writing, it has been watched 17 million times. The cub's exploits were equal parts gif, nature documentary, and motivational poster. It had all the elements of an incredible story: the most adorable of protagonists, rising and falling action (literally), and a happy ending. It was a tale of tenacity in the face of adversity, triumph against the odds. But when biologists started watching the video, they saw a very different story.
The video, they say, was clearly captured by a drone. And in it, they saw the work of an irresponsible drone operator who, in trying to film the bears, drove them into a dangerous situation that almost cost the cub its life. "I found it really hard to watch," says Sophie Gilbert, an ecologist at the University of Idaho who studies, among other things, how drones affect wildlife. "It showed a pretty stark lack of understanding from the drone operator of the effects that his actions were having on the bears." (It wasn't just scientists, either; several drone pilots were also dismayed by the footage.)
Finally, the cub nears the top. But as the footage zooms in to focus on the moment of reunion, the mother inexplicably swipes at the youngster with her paw, sending it hurtling downward again. It slides a long way, scrabbling for purchase and finding some just before it hits a patch of bare rock. Once again, it starts to climb, and after what seems like a nail-biting eternity for anyone watching, it reaches its mother. The two walk away.
The video was uploaded to the ViralHog YouTube channel on Friday, and after being shared on Twitter, it rapidly went viral. At the time of this writing, it has been watched 17 million times. The cub's exploits were equal parts gif, nature documentary, and motivational poster. It had all the elements of an incredible story: the most adorable of protagonists, rising and falling action (literally), and a happy ending. It was a tale of tenacity in the face of adversity, triumph against the odds. But when biologists started watching the video, they saw a very different story.
The video, they say, was clearly captured by a drone. And in it, they saw the work of an irresponsible drone operator who, in trying to film the bears, drove them into a dangerous situation that almost cost the cub its life. "I found it really hard to watch," says Sophie Gilbert, an ecologist at the University of Idaho who studies, among other things, how drones affect wildlife. "It showed a pretty stark lack of understanding from the drone operator of the effects that his actions were having on the bears." (It wasn't just scientists, either; several drone pilots were also dismayed by the footage.)
don't worry, before too long there won't be any are bears.
If people are killing themselves to get a selfie, imagine when their own life is not at stake. Humans suck.
And the gears of evolution, they keep-a turnin'~
If they are running away, they have something to hide for sure. They must be drug dealers or terrorists! Shoot them!
It might mess up his hair
Was the drone running Linux?
Imagine going through life actively trying to find something to get angry and outraged about in everything you see. What a miserable existence that must be.
So viral I can't even see it.
I don't think that writer knows the meaning of the word.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
There's nothing quite like seeing animals in all their majesty while they run away from all the loud shit with cameras. Yep, that's some real appreciation.
Now we have a video. Please say that me watching the video is problematic, I love how everything is problematic nowadays.
If I wanted to read shitty Twitter wars, I'd go to Twitter. Jesus, the whole press is infected with reporting on Tweets.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Or we could watch something shot by one of the many actual wildlife photographers and not some dunce with a new toy.
That's an easy comment to make when you're not a baby bear trying to climb a mountain to get away from people trying to "care".
Or we could watch something shot by one of the many actual wildlife photographers and not some dunce with a new toy.
There we go, I vote for appreciating wild life corpses!
It's be great to have drones for all of the utility they could offer, but irresponsible operators keeps that from happening. The drone community is sabotaging itself.
They usually try to get shit going by provocation (or by making a mountain out of a molehill). What is different here? That just bears and not humans are put in peril?
The only information accompanying the video says that it was captured on June 19, 2018, in the Magadan region of Russia. No one knows who shot it, which drone was used, or how close it flew. But âoeit doesnâ(TM)t matter how far away it was, because I can tell from the bearsâ(TM) behavior that it was too close,â says Clayton Lamb of the University of Alberta, who studies grizzly bears in the Canadian Rockies and uses drones to map the area where they live.
They have no idea how close the drone was but they are somehow certain the bears behavior was affected by it? Based on what exactly? The POV from the drone indicates it was very far away, likely out of earshot and certainly out of view. If they could even hear it probably sounded like bees to them. At no point in the video do the bears even look at its direction.
The point was that you can do so without harassing the wildlife if you know the correct methodologies.
ESL? 'Shooting' footage or photos is a common verb. He's not referring to killing the animals with bullets or arrows.
On the internet, you must be explicit. Most people on the internet are ESL.
Just like most people on the internet don't understand the affects of a drone on wildlife. No matter what we are doing to nature, scaring the shit out of a bear and endangering a cub is not a good way to go about promoting green.
This. Human interaction with almost any other species, whether direct like this video or indirect like anthropogenic environmental change, is the single greatest impact on that species' trend toward flourishing or extinction.
It seems that cattle are an outbreak species, and the great bears are doomed.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
ESL? 'Shooting' footage or photos is a common verb. He's not referring to killing the animals with bullets or arrows.
Meh, mostly I just tend to read things bit too literally. Works good when reviewing requirements, less so with other reading.
One video isn't really a problem. Big deal, a bear gets scared and climbs a climb a mountain. We're part of nature, and we disturbed a bear that one time. Ho hum.
The problem would be more if world+dog tries to get the same shot. Given enough disturbance like this, it might have some negative impact. But getting upset over one video because a Bear got scared and might have injured itself is... stupid.
On the internet, you must be explicit. Most people on the internet are ESL.
Just like most people on the internet don't understand the affects of a drone on wildlife. No matter what we are doing to nature, scaring the shit out of a bear and endangering a cub is not a good way to go about promoting green.
And a lot of dyslexics too. I think that tends to be the cause of the scatter brained academic image. While I'm a full time software dev and part time PHD student, dyslexia often tends to result in me reading something and my mind going off on the wrong track with it (usually reading something too literally, while other times I pick up subtle meanings fine). After a while you learn to get used to saying the wrong thing or double checking what people tell you, though double checking is a bit more difficult on slashdot...
I originally thought the poster was being sarcastic and was agreeing in a sarcastic manner that shooting (with guns) is not a wonderful alternative, rather than noting it meant shooting with cameras. Hopefully at least my intent that treating wildlife with respect came across, even if everything else was said wrong.
With how hard sarcasm is to convey between humans in text form, I have to imagine that it'll be the mark of a successful AI when we can make sarcastic jokes back and forth. Perhaps a misunderstood joke will be what sets Skynet off!
You didn't take the word "photographer" literally.
Don't make excuses for sloppiness in your communications. Fix it.
The drone-cretin should at the very least be heavily fined for this.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Poo poo baby boo boo bear ... oh da poo poo ,,, oh da pa pa. Pretty soon it's bear season and we can blast the critters to pieces and make bear rugs on which animal loving boo-bitches get fucked silly.
Too many whiny snowflakes on /. crying over a couple of bears and cursing humanity.
This story belongs in the pages of "Chicken Poop for the Soul"
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
The mom was too stupid to care about her kid in light of her own life being threatened.
All I can say is thank god we are not animals and have developed enough understanding to be able to live beyond fight or flight.
This shows quite clearly what fear can do to a bear.
Plenty of people have shot at the top with a slingshot just cause it's either funny or they wanted to "make the bear strong".
I mean, what do you expect? People act that way to animals and people, it's called harassment.
I think it's strange to say inexperienced drone operator, when you can do the same thing by throwing a rock.
You didn't take the word "photographer" literally.
Don't make excuses for sloppiness in your communications. Fix it.
Sure, just as soon as Slashdot communication effects anything important I'll focus on correcting my communications here like I do in places where it is important. Also will do more when they let me make easy corrections like in places where my communication is important.
One of my neighbors uploaded a video they captured of porch pirates on Halloween stealing an amazon package; ViralHog stole it, then reported the *original* as a copyright violation
Black bears scare easily. Human noises, breaking branches, and or talking loudly/yelling could all have had a similar affect. In fact making noises while walking in bear country to startle and alert any bears in the area is considered the safe thing to do. It is a survival instinct that helps them not be hunted by humans or other large predators. To the people so worried about inflicting horror on these mammals, they should avoid going into the woods entirely.
I only saw the thumbnails,
trying to entice me to watch
and I didn't
not even for a moment
consider watching it
.
Please support me for staying this Awesome !
Put a gun on that drone - shoot the bear
Excellent idea. Because any gun that you could mount on a consumer grade drone would wouldn't be powerful enough to be more than a minor annoyance for an adult brown bear. And any gun that would be powerful enough would be too heavy and large to get the drone off of the ground.
If you ever got out of your mom's basement you'd know that you don't fuck with a bear, and that goes doubly so for a female that has cubs. Other than in areas where there are tigers and polar bear, there is nothing that is a threat to them, besides well armed humans. Most handguns don't have enough power to get to their organs, and their skull is thick enough that they won't penetrate that either. Shooting a bear with a handgun will more often than not, end up pissing off the bear and get you killed.
Bingo. The difference when presented with the same evidence between what an amateur sees and what a professional sees. It just emphasis the story more in that people are ignorant about the consequences of their actions, and more importantly resistance about being educated about their ignorance. Now all we need to make the circle complete is blaming the animals for not recognizing our benign intentions. Now who are the stewards of the planet again? Certainly not the animals.
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
You appear to not possess the concept of humor, specifically the "double meaning"
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Have gnu, will travel.
shhhh, Skynet is watching! Apologize now!
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
actual wildlife photographers
Where to I apply for my license as an 'actual wildlife photographer'? Which government bureau is in charge of issuing them?
This may seem to be simple sarcasm to many. But we are having a real problem in my area with our state fish and wildlife people shitting bricks when anyone tries to submit anything into evidence that doesn't fit their political agenda. The day is rapidly arriving when the public will not be permitted to look at orcas, seals or sea lions. Because they might discredit the states data.
Have gnu, will travel.
Good idea, lets appreciate the animals by not caring and the corporations can go in and destroy their habitat... oh wait, that seems to happen either way.
US forest coverage has increased dramatically in the past 100 years, as almost our our farmland has been reclaimed, thanks to evil corporations and their evil technology.
Worldwide, forest coverage is a net increase of a few percent over the past 30 years, as clearcutting in third world nations is counterbalanced by growth in modern nations full of evil corporations.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
One of the best options to cutting the noise of a drone down is building larger slower fans and installing them in a ducted fans.
But of course this situation is nothing really to do about the wildlife as much as it is a bunch of concern trolls trying to shit on the drone community because of a viral video.
Sure it's qualitative, but 9/10's my witness of drone operators is them behaving badly, irresponsibly, selfishly in some manner. Some recent ones:
-Park ranger at a beach had to tell a guy to put away his drone, the changing stalls were open air / roofless.
-Couple (not me) having a quiet, romantic moment on a lookout in Hawaii, buzzed by drone and clearly annoyed by it.
-Also in Hawaii, different location, drone flying up high while tour helicopter crossed ridge. I'm guessing it wasn't really as close to an accident as it looked to me, but certainly a danger.
-National park hiking trail, 2 miles from trailhead at a waterfall. Again, a quiet contemplative place...nope bzzz of drone.
-Above kids playground...wtf?
Short story, amateur operators suck
Any serial killer's self-justification.
Your comment is incorrect. By definition of this being an unmanned drone; this is not direct interaction. It was done through a proxy of a DRONE, which is neither direct interaction with or interaction with a human. Audibly the bear heard the drone. That is the extent of the interaction. He wasn't spoken to, fed, tranquilized, played music, grabbed, raped, molested, or shot.
Have you ever been surprised or scared by a bear or a mountain lion? They can and do scare humans. Should they be treated as vile mammals for such heinous activities? Would you demand an apology from the mountain lion that scared you and made you uncomfortable and was your instinct to put your children out of harms way? DO you write off the species for menacing innocent humans walking through a slot canyon? Are humans an outbreak species?
Then do the other species of the world a favor and off yourself.
Please people here are bitching and moaning about what might have happened
How the fuck do you lot cross a street or get in a car ?
It's an even easier comment to make when I have momma bear in my scope and a .223 round chambered.
Of course my state hasn't managed to set itself on fire trying to save the snail darter or not letting the forestry service do its job.
These days, most people trying to document and shoot on film try to be careful that their very presence does not alter the behavior of those they study. This was not the case of the drone operator, whose work affected the behavior of the bears. This has been a common problem through nature documentaries through the years. Some of our misconception of lemmings, that they commit mass suicide, was propagated by producers of a 1950s Disney documentary who brought the lemmings to the edge of a cliff and pushed them off. You're not really getting realistic behavior when you stage the behavior you think should be happening (lemmings do jump into the sea when their populations grow too large, but it's not suicide, it's to swim to the other side of a channel to settle on land there).
Not bears.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
I watched the video- didn't see the bears even acknowledge the drone. I don't think it was their motivation for climbing a mountain. The truth is wildlife doesn't fear a buzzing noise 100 feet in the sky. It's not a threat to them unless it gets close and this did not. Its hunters with rifles, deforestation, and global warming that threaten wildlife. This story is complete trash based on conjecture. There is no evidence that a drone spooks wildlife and suggestions that it does are why responsible drone operators can't find any scenic location to take photos. Drones are illegal to fly in all national parks and many state parks, yet in most of them you can carry a firearm and many have firing range and hunting permits.
Hey despite everyone's best attempts no state has so far made it illegal to be a useless dick. You're safe for the foreseeable future.
Better off chasing the bears away with a drone than you getting chased by the bears. Political correctness says you have to die for their religion.
*affects
It's OK Bender, there's no such thing as 2.
*affects
I wondered how long it would take someone to comment on that!
You didn't take the word "photographer" literally.
Don't make excuses for sloppiness in your communications. Fix it.
Sure, just as soon as Slashdot communication affects anything important I'll focus on correcting my communications here like I do in places where it is important. Also will do more when they let me make easy corrections like in places where my communication is important.
Fixed that for you!
Oh Russian Roulette is your game ?
Yes. I just aim the gun at the asshole instead of me.
Yeah, I cheat. So what?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Most handguns work fine. https://www.ammoland.com/2018/...
Yes. I just aim the gun at another asshole instead of me.
Fixed that for you.
Whatever, he dies, my problems are solved.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yeah if you really want your problems solved best point the gun at yourself.