this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2026
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Idk.
They don't really prey on humans & we coexisted without much issues for humans (very much a lot of issues for them). Then that is not that hugely dissimilar with polar bears (seals are still better than humans).
Eating a baby in case of big dogs & cats every so many years doesn't really count I think, in nature it's usually disregarded even if a regular thing bcs of the size difference (and the mortality rate to adulthood). A bit along the lines that babies of all species are food & that doesn't give you much representative info.
With polar bears, even with villages in the migrating area (their ecosystem is shrinking rapidly), you just can't be outside, they will munch you.
Hikers can hike through woods with wolves, you can park your car next to lions, ... tigers would be borderline (and endangered), but it seems they fear us, they fear injury & our unpredictability generally (when forced to individuals can prey on humans, they were a few documented cases, but doesn't seem the default behaviour).
Polar bears don't back off if they need food, they can stalk you & (try to) break obstacles.
Maybe it's just that it harder to fight of a polar bear just of it's mass & power?
Also wiki/Polar_bear_jail.
When tigers prey on people it's usually when they are old. They get lazy and we are easy. Until the guns and poison come out.
Yes.
Lazy ~ everything is harder with age, you get physically worn out, all manner of injuries & chronic pains accumulate (teeth & paws included).
Taking the only available option when you need/decide to survive some don't even consider an option, but a necessity.
There is a reason there are no lions left in Europe, we killed them. We killed most wildlife and only recently we have tried to bring those somewhat large predators back(wolves, bears, etc).
I am pretty sure if there were polar bears in the Mediterranean, and the rest of the history remained the same, they would also be considered extinct or endangered.
All you need is a lot of humans and time and eventually all big animal threats will be eliminated.
They don't have to be threatening, just big, and a good source of meat. Plenty of docile megafauna went extinct in places just as soon as humans arrived.
They don't even have to be known to humans, we destroy entire ecosystems without knowing the species, thousands of species wiped out for human convenience & resources (eg draining wetlands, or even greenhouse gases global climate change).
Did people kill the lions and cave bears and the like in europe? How far back was that. I know a lot of the species got limited to spain and greece in the ice ages.