Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ (@grizzlygirl87.bsky.social)

Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 23:04 UTC

Ugh. The job market for wildlife biologists outside of academia is abysmal.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 04:14 UTC

Okay. There is just not that much water in the Seine. Where did it all come from?

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 03:53 UTC

Basically, Jaws. Nothing to see here.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 03:51 UTC

I mean...the fact that this is a trope in literally almost every single disaster movie should be a sign. Even the tiniest bit.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 03:48 UTC

It's honestly super sad and frustrating and upsetting, but at what point do scientists walk away, and say 'you know what, handle it all by yourselves and see how it goes' to politicians who clearly "know better"?

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 03:06 UTC

Also actually incredibly realistic in basically every disaster type movie...government/cops/people not believing scientists and experts.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 02:56 UTC

In case you're unaware, the entire premise of this movie is that a giant Mako shark is inhabiting the Seine River in France.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 02:54 UTC

Watching Under Paris, and so far, the most unrealistic thing I've seen is cops being friendly to homeless people.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jul 05, 2024 at 20:19 UTC

Researchers discover swath of previously undocumented polar bear dens north of Churchill - News | University of Saskatchewan

🦊 #mammals 🐋🦭 #MarineMammalScience

news.usask.ca/articles/res...

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:36 UTC

Thanks for playing #KnockKnockWhosBear with me. I hope you enjoyed this cute little cub and his or her family photo! Special thanks to @RyderDAR for the pictures. Come back next Tuesday for another challenge!

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:36 UTC

The takeaway here is that this is actually very tricky, because juveniles often have misleading features or lack the same features adults have. Sometimes, they just have a lot of growing to do! I promise those big ears will look like brown bear ears one day.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:36 UTC

Because @RyderDAR was kind enough to supply another photo of the same cub...with its siblings and mom. Mom is definitely a brown bear - she has all of those features we've already discussed that are super distinctive.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:35 UTC

So, taking all of these features together (and with a very large grain of salt, because juvenile ID is legitimately difficult), I'd qualify this as a brown bear cub. Now, we're really lucky in this circumstance to have 100% positive ID. Why?

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:35 UTC

You know how big male polar bears often have what look like chaps on their legs because the fur is super long and shaggy there? And then it kind of sharply cuts in towards the foot pad? This cub has that too, and you can often times see that in brown bears (less often in black).

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

Now, we can't really see any claws to help us. And because baby is so young, there really isn't a whole lot of heft to this bear's legs just yet. But...these just look like adult grizz feet to me. Long foot pads. And there's even a bit of chappiness to the fur along the legs.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

We still see a really straight back. Black bear backs tend to slope up from the shoulders to the rump to big bums. Brown bear backs are usually straight or slope slightly downward so that the shoulders are higher than the rump. This looks like a brown bear back to me, minus hump.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

Still thinking about how much growing this kid has to do, let's check out the back. There is no hump, which is distinctive of brown bears. But that hump between the shoulders is muscle, and this is a baby. It simply hasn't had time to develop yet.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

So, one point for brown bear for the face shape/muzzle, and one point for black bear for the ears, keeping in mind that this bear was likely born in January and is only a few months old at this point. Possibly a point for the color and length/shagginess of the fur for brown bear.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:34 UTC

Like I mentioned before, often times, juveniles of a species take time to grow into their more distinctive features, and I think most ears would look pretty big on this kid until he or she grows up a bit more. I've seen young/sub-adult brown bears with pretty large ears.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:33 UTC

The ears look quite large - kind of tall and pointy. This would typically mean black bear, as brown bears tend to have smaller, rounder ears closer to the head, rather than set back. However, this kid is moving quick, so the ears are pressed back a bit with the gait.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:33 UTC

This also points to brown bear, as brown bears tend to have dishing or concavity in the face, and black bears have straighter facial profiles with more slender snouts. This little guy or gal's muzzle is already a bit boxy and not super slender, which also suggests brown bear.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:33 UTC

But like I said, coat color alone is not a great way to ID a bear species, especially for such a young animal. So, let's see what else we can find that is helpful, starting at the nose and head. There isn't a straight line from top of the head to the nose tip.

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Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ @grizzlygirl87.bsky.social
[ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 21:33 UTC

The important thing to keep in mind here is the shaggy looking fur with an obvious undercoat - those are signs that potentially point to brown bear. Black bears are generally more solidly colored (except maybe the face) and have less shaggy fur.

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