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Claud the Kung Fu Bear

By Emperor in Animal, Everything Else on Apr 5, 2008 at 8:39 am


That is Claud the Kung Fu bear from Hiroshima City, Japan. You can see another video here, and here is Claud’s story:

A bear at a zoo in Hiroshima City, western Japan, is drawing applause from visitors with his performance of twirling a stick.

Claud, a male Asiatic black bear at Asa Zoo, began twirling a branch when he was playing with it 5 years ago. The zoo operator says that the bear stopped the twirling after he grew up but resumed it 2 months ago.

This day, he used his mouth to pick up a stick like a pole weighing about 5 kilograms – his recent favorite — and handled it intensely with his hands, legs and neck.

Visitors said they were surprised to watch such a large bear handle the stick so skillfully.

His breeder said he doesn’t know why the bear likes to twirl sticks but his performance is really powerful.

These silky skills could have levelled the playing field in Sonny Chiba’s Karate Bearfighter and given the title a second meaning too. Of course we always knew bears can kick ass, but it is nice to see it for real.

Link (with another video news report) – Thanks Q


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COMMENT
  1. Thomas
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 8:59 am

    That's one bear you don't mess with. Looks like he's just waiting for someone to insult his honor.

  2. fz
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am

    He makes that branch look really light

  3. Louise
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 9:21 am

    Do bored asiatic bears do that in the wild? Do they have "toys", such as this bear's "favorite stick"?

  4. Fritz
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 10:41 am

    no doubt asiatic bears have "toys" that they play with when they are younger, play is an essential part of training for adulthood. i do get the feeling that the bear may have reverted to this behaviour as a form of self-comforting, as many isolated zoo animals do.

    it still boggles me why we feel the need to keep such creatures in captivity.

  5. xander
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Righto, Fritz.

    Seems a smart bear though.

  6. Near
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am

    Epic.

  7. Thespian24601
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    That is so cool. This may be where KungFu Panda came from lol.
    I would love to have a bear like this as the bodyguard to my house. Because not only would almost anyone be intimidated by him, but he would practice outside and I would watch him all the time.

  8. CheeseDuck
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    Ninja-esque.

  9. Taylor
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

    He's not playing, he's practicing for his escape...we're all doomed.

  10. Christophe
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Hiroshima's bear weird act. Do they still have radiation over there?

  11. oezicomix
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    i bet my chamaeleon could beat this bear!
    http://www.oezicomix.com/stuff/kungfu.jpg

  12. poorbear
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Oh sure, you guys see a bear twirling a stick, in a way thats soo amazing.

    But I see a bear that is psycotic and stressed due to a small enviornment doing repetative behaviors for minutes/hours on end.

    http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemi e/bericht-12673.html explains what this bear is doing.

  13. roger
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    I wish it were otherwise, but I think poorbear is right here. That bear needs to be able to roam. He's got the equivalent of cabin fever.

  14. Ali S.
    Apr 5th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    As I've always believed zoos are ok as long as the animals are kept happy, healthy, and socialized with members of their own species to keep them sane. This activity like Fritz has pointed out looks very much like self-comforting behavior or a form of self entertainment from boredom. Get it a friend!

  15. GoShogun
    Apr 6th, 2008 at 2:15 am

    Maybe the bear is autistic...or officially the l33test animal on da urfs.

  16. jane
    Apr 6th, 2008 at 3:43 am

    Somebody alert Colbert! The bears are arming!

  17. RtB
    Apr 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    http://www.google.com

    try google :)

  18. prolan12
    Aug 5th, 2008 at 8:52 am

    Cv0BVq wrerrerreteee

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