Do Bears Really Smile?
Jul 15th, 2009 | By mervi | Category: Featured articles15.7.2009 by Else Poulsen – Posted by Karen Stefanini
A Zookeeper Explores the Behavior and Emotional Life of Bears
“An inspiring trip into the minds and reality of bears.” —Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep
Few people know bears as intimately as Else Poulsen. She has raised bears, comforted bears, taught bears, learned from bears, had bears communicate their needs to her, and nursed bears back to health. This remarkable book reveals the many insights about bears and their lives that she has gained through her work with them.
In the eighties, Poulsen became a zookeeper in Calgary, where she rehabilitated bears in crisis. She has shared in the joy of a polar bear discovering soil under her paws for the first time in twenty years, felt the pride of a cub learning to crack nuts with her molars, and grieved at the horror of captivity for Asian black bears in China.
Smiling Bears provides an enlightening and moving portrait of bears in all their richness and complexity and of Poulsen’s exhilarating work with them.
Biological scientist and bear expert Else Poulsen reveals a few mysteries about the emotional characters she describes in her book Smiling Bears.
Do bears actually smile?
Yes, they do. Its often difficult to see their smile because they have such big noses and their heads hang over their mouths. Bears smilefor bear reasons when they are self-satisfied. I have observed bears smile as a greeting when I or other bears show up, when I give them favorite treats, when they are playing or are watching others play, or simply when they are relaxing and soaking up the sun.
Smiling Knuti by Hartmuth
Do bears really have emotions? Yes, we can assume that bears have a wide and complex range of emotion from happiness, gratitude, and joy to jealousy, sadness, and loss that they like humans – express physically through facial expression, body and verbal language. For example; an annoyed bear may hang his head, form a point with his upper lip, furrow his brow and stare at you.
How do bears communicate?
Bears use behavior, facial expression, body and vocal language to communicate just like humans. They can make a sound that coupled with body language can mean one or a number of things like a word. Several sounds can be strung together to give further meaning like a sentence. Nature clearly selects for cross-species communication. A deer that doesnt understand what a couple of wolves are doing when they are exhibiting stalking behavior and vocals is a dead deer. We share some of our body language with bears. For instance, when a bear wants something right here, right now he will pick up his front foot and pad it on the ground once or several times. If you want your pet dog to come and sit next to you on the couch you will pat the seat next to you with your hand while calling your pets name. Ever wonder why you do that?
Laughing Knuti by Viktor
You gave polar bears Prozac! Why?
I was working with Dr. Cam Teskeya neuroscientist from the University of Calgary. We came to the understanding that our pacing polar bear, Snowball, had a disorder very similar to human obsessive-compulsive disorder, likely brought on by the fact that she had been living in a cement pit exhibit, which we now understood to be a highly sensory-deprived environment. We added natural bear furniture like woodchips substrate, an outdoor den full of bedding material like straw and branches, huge trees trunks to climb and boulders in the pool to hide live fish that she could hunt. We also developed an enrichment program for her so there were things to do all day long if she chose to take part. But none of these things cured her pacing habit. She needed medical assistance and we gave her Prozac, which is usually prescribed for human OCD sufferers. Snowball responded extremely well and stopped her pacing habit. She replaced that behavior with normal bear behaviors such as searching for food and nest-building. Our work was successful and was published internationally in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association JAVMA.
Isnt that anthropomorphizing putting human feelings onto animals?
Historically, humans have supposed that only we have emotions because an emotion is such a difficult thing to prove scientifically. But humans share all their other attributes with animals such as anatomy, social structure, and communication that it is unrealistic to think that emotions are somehow an exception to the rule. While it is not yet within our realm to know what it feels like to be a bear, it isnt within our realm to know what it feels like to be your human neighbor either.
Dear Mervi,
What an interesting article! Thank you so much for keeping Knuti’s Weekly ‘alive’ with wonderful stories and articles and pictures like this one! The last lines of the article touched me, as they state exactly how I feel about this. One of the first things I noticed when I first visited Knut, was the many expressions he had. I even made a slide show about it. Nice to read I am not imagining things, and that my gut feelings about animals and their communication are not that far out as sometimes is thought.
Best wishes,
Frans
Dear Karen and Mervi
this is a very interesting article. Thank you so much for sharing. Previously I read in one of the polarbear bloggs that polarbears are said to have no mimicry. I was very astonished about that, as I was sure I had seen it very often on Knut’s face as well as on the faces of Flocke, Raspi, Vera, Wilbär, Giovanna, Yogi and Lisa. Also their way of communication is very distinct (facial expression, body language) and I am convinced I see it on many of my photoes, also the tool of body language is used very often.
I am very happy when I read this article. Thank you very much!
BH, caren
Dear Mervi,
Hoorraayy–We are vindicated!! This is absolutely wonderful that it is now in print by a scientist–that bears do smile (or more generally that animals can show facial expressions). Knuti has so many facial expressions captured so very well by the various photo-Aunties and Uncles. Your choice of Hartmuth’s photo is a very good example. Anyone who has a cat or dog companion can recognize different expressions on their faces as well as general body language. We had a dog once that loved everything but other male dogs and men. It was at your peril if you did not understand his facial expressions if you were a man. And of course this is all about taking the time to observe and learn from the animal. We have all said that Thomas was such a good keeper because he loved and respected his charges and took the time to observe and interact with them. Thank you very much Mervi for bringing this book to our attention. I am going to go look on Amazon to see if I can get this book.
Bear hugs, Sarsam
Sarsam, Caren, Frans – I agree with you. You only have to look at photos of our Knuti to see how many different facial expression he has. My cat Miffe can also express himself with his face – I always know in what mood he is. I’m going to get that book as soon as possible!
Mervi, the article is very interesting. Now we know we are no bunch of dreamers when we see our Knut smiling.
Bea
I’d love to read this book. It will be a very interesting topic to explore, but on the other hand and as Mervi has shown with her photos, we’ve already been exposed to the many facial expressions of our beloved bear.
Knuti smiles every day, a fact caught on camera many times. He’s even laughing.
Danke Mervi for this article. BH.
Karen Stefanini — I should have thanked you in my first post for sending Mervi this article! The book is a great find–I have checked Amazon and they have it available so I am going to buy it today.
Thank you again, Sarsam