Asterism: Bear Creature Corner Plus

Join Jordan and Kit as they head to Creature Corner to explore the fascinating world of bears and to share their favorite fictional bears!

Episode transcripts: https://www.starrytimepodcast.com/episode-transcripts   Website: https://www.starrytimepodcast.com/   Social: https://universeodon.com/@starrytimepod  Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/starrytimepod  

Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:45 Creature Corner 05:47 Favorite Fictional Bears 10:53 Outro

Keywords/Topics Covered: Bears, Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Polar Bears, Fictional Bears, Creature Corner, Bear Facts, Bear Species, Wildlife Education, Animal Behavior, Bear Conservation, Winnie The Pooh, Paddington Bear, Baloo, Fozzie Bear, Grolar Bear, Pizzly Bear, Bear Diet, Panda Bear, Duffy Bear, Teddy Bear, Disney Duffy Bear, 

Episode Transcript

>> Jordan (00:15):
Hi, I'm Jordan.

>> Kit (00:17):
And I'm Kit.

>> Jordan (00:18):
Welcome to Starry Time

>> Kit (00:20):
Asterisms edition,

>> Jordan (00:22):
Where stars plus lines
equal stories.

>> Kit (00:26):
With an asterisk.

>> Jordan (00:27):
In these episodes, we'll explore ideas,
concepts, or people that didn't make it into the main
show, or just certain topics we want to talk about a little
bit more.

>> Kit (00:37):
And this week, unsurprisingly, we're headed to
Creature Corner to talk about real bears
and then our favorite fictional bears.

>> Jordan (00:45):
Let's start off with our usual
Creature Corner query. What do you
know about bears?

>> Kit (00:53):
Well, I'm from New Hampshire. We're both from New Hampshire.
So I have seen a bear before. Uh, we have
black bears in New Hampshire, and I have indeed seen a black bear.
So I think that I'm kind of an expert. Um,
okay, so what I actually know about bears is that in
the US we have black bears and grizzly bears.
Black bears tend to be less aggressive than grizzly

(01:13):
bears. Polar bears we don't have
in the continental U.S. but they will mess you up. That's what
I know. I know they're
mammals.

>> Jordan (01:23):
Great. Yeah. Good place to start.

>> Kit (01:26):
Um, I know that the best way to not
be eaten by a bear is to carry
bear spray. I know that bears
hibernate in the winter. I know that they
can catch fish.

>> Jordan (01:38):
Great. They love fish. Yes.

>> Kit (01:41):
Yeah, I seen those, uh, you know, videos.
They're very protective of their cubs.
No, no more dangerous bear than a
mama bear. They're very cute,
in my opinion, but they should
be treated with respect. So, um,
yeah, that's where I'm at on bears. Do not know if

(02:01):
they ever had tails a la the constellation.
Uh, don't know what other kinds of bears there are. Don't know
any sort of histories or bear evolution.
But, uh, I do know they're cute.

>> Jordan (02:12):
Well, Kit, let's start out with how many
types of bears there are. There's a
brown bear, a black bear, a polar bear,
a moon bear, a sun bear,
a sloth bear, a speckled
bear, and a panda bear.

>> Kit (02:29):
I'm looking at a sun bear right now. Woah-
there's so many more bears than I realized.

>> Jordan (02:34):
So the brown bear is the most
widespread of all bears.
They range from small little
European brown bears to even smaller
Syrian bears to of course, the
giant grizzlies or the Kodiacs in
Alaska. But they're all still the same
species. They can also interbreed with

(02:57):
black and polar bears. A, ah, brown
or grizzly polar hybrid is called a
Grolar bear or a Pizzly
bear.

>> Kit (03:07):
Grolar or Pizzly. I'm not sure which. Which one's
better.

>> Jordan (03:11):
That's, uh, up to our listeners to decide. Just like
us humans, bears are intelligent. They have long
memories. They have been recorded using
tools. They're good at solving food
related puzzles such as opening
cars and garbage bins. Bears are
also a lot like humans in that they are plantigrade,

(03:32):
which means they walk on their heels rather than
their toes, like cats and dogs,
which are called digitrades. And the diet of all
bears, except polar bears consists
mostly of plant material, berries,
leaves, things like that. But yes, each species
of bear is uniquely suited to its
environment. And with the exception of panda

(03:54):
bears, they are adapted for the broadest
diet possible. The panda bear,
they are the farthest evolutionary
offshoot. They have a carnivorous
digestive system, but at some point decided
they only want to eat bamboo.
They can digest meat. They

(04:15):
just don't like it, even though
they need to eat, a ton of bamboo for
the same amount of energy.

>> Kit (04:22):
Right.

>> Jordan (04:23):
And my favorite panda fact is
that female pandas need at
least, at least two males
around to reproduce because they will choose
between them. That's why for a long time people
had trouble breeding them in captivity.
So apparently bears not only they

(04:43):
have personalities. They're also
very picky.

>> Kit (04:47):
Fair enough.

>> Jordan (04:48):
Bear enough. They're a lot like us.
so those are all my bear facts.

>> Kit (04:54):
Did you find out, did they ever have longer tails? Or is that
just?

>> Jordan (04:58):
The bear dog Daphoenodon 20 million years
ago does have a tail, but it seems like they lost
it sometime long before humans.

>> Kit (05:06):
But what about before Zeus?

>> Jordan (05:08):
Yeah, great point. I did actually
have one more bear fact. It's about
one individual bear. It's a black
bear that was found in a Campground
in 2004 in Seattle.
It was found unconscious.
It had broken into a cooler and

(05:29):
used its claws and teeth to open dozens
of beer cans.

>> Kit (05:34):
No.

>> Jordan (05:34):
And although it sampled other types of
beer.

>> Kit (05:37):
Mhm.

>> Jordan (05:38):
It chose to drink all the cans of
only one type of beer.
Bears, they're just like us.

>> Kit (05:46):
Just like us.
Which I think is a great segue into
how we want to wrap up this episode, which is by
talking about, first of all, how there is just an
extensive list of fictional bears,
um, on Wikipedia. And Wikipedia doesn't even
have all fictional bears. And so I think we just wanted
to wrap up our Creature corner here, just talking about some of

(06:07):
our favorite fictional bears, giving them a little bit of
a shout out. Uh, Jordan, do you want to start us off? I'm sure
we'll have some overlapping, but just, uh, favorite
bears.

>> Jordan (06:17):
Of course, the first bear I can remember is
Baloo.

>> Kit (06:21):
Uh-huh.

>> Jordan (06:21):
The bear from the Jungle Book
who's just a chiller. So,
Baloo, maybe was my first bear. Or
perhaps it was Winnie the Pooh Bear
Winnie the Pooh Bear, I think is my choice
for favorite bear.

>> Kit (06:37):
Mhm.

>> Jordan (06:38):
And there's a few reasons for that.
I admire his lack of ambition,
his lack of drive. He's very secure in
who he is.

>> Kit (06:48):
Mhm.

>> Jordan (06:49):
I like that about Pooh. And in case you
didn't know, we are also
celebrating the 100th
anniversary of Pooh Bear.

>> Kit (07:00):
Yeah. So, I mean, Pooh has been with us for a long
time. Ah. That hundred year mark is why we're getting
like, Pooh knockoffs now. Because it's no longer
under copyright. So if you want to see like,
Pooh, but horror, explicit horror,
um, you can see that.
Um, Baloo definitely on my list. But I think I like

(07:21):
Baloo because you like Baloo.

>> Jordan (07:24):
Because yeah,

>> Kit (07:24):
I mean, like, I'm like, I know you have a fondness for Jungle Book, so
I feel like I have a fondness for it because I
have a fondness for you. So I had two
choices too. Um, again, sort of
like you. One that I liked wasn't my favorite. Well,
yeah, I kind have three. Okay. So the first one
is Fozzy Bear.

>> Jordan (07:44):
Fozzy Bear. Bow ties are
cool.

>> Kit (07:47):
Bowties are cool. We're talking about from the
Muppets. Waka waa waa.
Kermit's best friend. That's a character
I like that makes me, you know, nostalgia
brain. A second option I had, which I
have again, I have like, um. I don't have direct
fondness for, but I feel like needs a shout
out. Who is Duffy

>> Jordan (08:09):
mmm. The Disney Bear.

>> Kit (08:11):
The Disney Bear Duffy, who is
very prominent in, um, Tokyo's
Disney parks. And I've listened to multiple
podcasts about Duffy. And, um,
listen, I don't know Duffy. I have never been
to DisneySea. Um, Tokyo
Disney Never been there. But I've heard a lot about Duffy.
It sounds pretty compelling.

>> Jordan (08:32):
Duffy looks like a real cutie.

>> Kit (08:35):
But ultimately my favorite. My
favorite favorite. And I think this one on, as soon as
I say it, you'll be like, that makes sense. Is
Paddington Bear.

>> Jordan (08:45):
Oh, Paddington. We had one of those
in our house as well.

>> Kit (08:50):
Yeah. Yes. I still have a a
little mini Paddington that our mom got me. Um,
it sits in like a little. In the little bag that
Paddington that has like the Words like please look after this
bear. I'm looking at it right now. I can see it from where I'm
sitting. I have a real fondness for the little
raincoat and little hat and. Yeah, very cute.

>> Jordan (09:09):
Little battered suitcase and a duffle coat.

>> Kit (09:12):
Yes, exactly. Very British.

>> Jordan (09:14):
I mean, I gotta get the British credit. They don't have a ton of
bears there, but they came up with
Paddington and Winnie the Pooh. Um,
Paddington, I think was definitely on my
list of favorite bears. Devan
Coggan, writing for the Entertainment Weekly, saw
a similarity between Paddington and Winning the
Pooh, referring to them as two, quote,

(09:36):
extremely polite British bears
without pants.

>> Kit (09:40):
Mhm.

>> Jordan (09:41):
Adding that both bears share a philosophy
of kindness and integrity. Do you have any other
backup favorites or honorable mentions?

>> Kit (09:49):
Yeah, I mean, Smokey the Bear fits on
there. What about the Berenstain bears?

>> Jordan (09:55):
Love the Berenstain bears. Besides that. The
last bear that I can really think of, the Teddy
bear, which are named after Teddy
Roosevelt or Theodore Roosevelt. And the name
comes from an incident in 1902
where Theodore Roosevelt, uh, you know, an accomplished
hunter and big gamesman, came upon a

(10:15):
bear that was tied to a tree
and refused to shoot it because, you know,
it's not good. It's not being a good sport. This was a
bear that Teddy Roosevelt adopted
and uh, brought into the White House.

>> Kit (10:30):
Yeah, like we said, there are so many,
um, fictional bears, bears sort of in um,
pop culture and so please let us know over on
our socials at starrytimepod on the
Universeodon server of, uh, Mastodon. Let us know
what your favorite fictional bears are or you know,
ones that you dont care care for as much.

(10:55):
This has been Kit

>> Jordan (10:57):
and Jordan

>> Kit (10:58):
sisters who love stars and stories

>> Jordan (11:00):
and we well see you next time

>> Kit (11:02):
on Starry Time.