What if Grizzly Bears Were Introduced to the African Savannah？

What if grizzly bears were introduced to the African savanna? One of the most dangerous places on earth is the African savanna. Interestingly, one species of animal that's notably absent is one of the most dangerous animals alive today, the bear. So what would happen if we introduced grizzly bears into the African savanna? Would they thrive? Would they take over? Or is the grizzly bear perceived as such a danger because he doesn't have as much competition in his current habitats? Let's find out if our bear is a big fish in a small pond, or if he's more like a great grizzly white shark. Clicking the like button gives you protection from grizzlies and hitting that subscribe button will give you updates on the channel. So click both, it's a win-win! The African savanna Most people heading on vacation search for hotels in the safest neighborhoods, but if you filter to the deadliest areas, you'll find the African savanna near the top of the list. The African savanna stretches across huge swaths of the African continent. It's located primarily between 15 degrees north and 30 degrees south, and between 15 degrees west and 40 degrees west. Countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone, over to Uganda, Kenya, stretching down to Botswana, South Africa, and dozens more. The savanna is a tropical grassland with a prominent rainy season, during which 15 to 20 inches of rain is expected a month. During the dry season, only 4 inches during the entire 7 months. Gazelles and zebras and baboons don't pose much threat, but even some of the non-predatory animals are extremely dangerous. Rhinos, hippos, cape buffaloes, and elephants. It's scary enough knowing you have to watch out for the animals that are just trying to eat plants, but how about all the animals that would be trying to eat you? The African savanna is replete with ferocious predators. Hyenas, cheetahs, African wild dogs, jackals, leopards, crocodiles, and most famously, lions. There are just so many reasons that these predators make for, quite possibly, the deadliest combination of predators anywhere in the world. African wild dogs and jackals aren't enormous, but they travel in large packs. Hyenas? 190 pounds with a bite force of 1,100 PSI that can go through bone. Sometimes they can exist in a small army of over 100 individuals. The Nile crocodile makes the water run safe and his bite is worth 5,000 PSI and we haven't even gotten to the felines yet. There are seven big cats in the world. You may find yourself in areas of South America where there are two different big cats, cougars and jaguars. You may also find yourself in places in Asia that have two different big cats, tigers and leopards. But the African savanna is the one place where three different big cats coexist. The ferocious 200-pound leopard, the cheetah, 140 pounds, fastest land animal on the planet, and the lion, 6 to 8 feet long, over 500 pounds. Not only that, the only two big cats of the seven that live in a group, cheetahs and the lions. You'd have a hard time finding a place on Earth as lethal as the African savanna. Grizzly Bear So where's the grizzly bear? Definitely not in Africa. No bears live in Africa. The last bear that lived in Africa was the atlas bear, a subspecies of brown bear in northern Africa, having gone extinct around 1870. Like the atlas bear, the grizzly bear is also a subspecies of brown bear. The grizzly is only in North America, places like Canada, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Grizzly bears are one of the largest subspecies of brown bear. They're known for their size and their power. On average, the males are 8 feet long and 850 pounds. On average, plenty exceed 1,000 pounds. Don't confuse the weight for fat. Grizzlies can run at speeds of 35 miles per hour. When it comes to strength, it's staggering what a grizzly can do. They've been seen ripping apart logs and flipping over heavy rocks. They can lift or carry over 1,100 pounds with ease, and when it comes to the power of their jaws, a 1,160 psi bite force. The bite force being so high is interesting considering the diet of the grizzly bear. Not a carnivore, the grizzly is an omnivore. On average, their diet is about 75% non-meat like fruits, nuts, plants, and leaves. When they do eat meat, grizzlies use their keen sense of sight and smell to track down their prey. They're opportunistic and may eat rodents, birds, fish, and occasionally ungulates like deer, elk, and moose. You might see a grizzly hovering over the edge of the river swiping at the fish. If they go for an animal on land, it's a grizzly scene. They chase down the animal, swiping at it with their forepaw with so much power that it can be enough to break the target's spine. Grizzlies can take down an adult moose, swiping at it, digging into its flesh with its claws, and delivering several bites to the hind area. Once the grizzly can get on top of the animal, they'll finish it with a bite to its shoulder or neck, suffocating it or wringing its neck until the job is done. Adult males live solitary lives, except for when it's mating season. That's when a fight can break out, and they usually stand on their hind legs. The heavy swiping of the arms begins, and the two will grapple like a couple of wrestlers, biting and swinging their heads around viciously. Their fighting style is also effective if a predator is nearby. Now, an adult grizzly has virtually no predators, but their cubs will. Cougars, wolves, and black bears prey on grizzly cubs. Luckily, the grizzly is far larger than all of them and can defend themselves and their young with their fighting style. It's good to know the grizzly can hold his own against certain canines and certain felines. However, the African savannah has far different canines and felines and a whole host of other predators. Relocation We're putting a whole bunch of grizzly bears into the African savannah, and now we'll sit back and watch how things go. First off, people may think it will be too hot for the grizzlies in Africa because grizzlies typically only live in colder environments. While that's true, they also used to live as far south as California and even in parts of Mexico, so our African grizzlies can adjust. They'll need to do a quick environment check. Looks different, smells different, but in a general sense it's similar enough. There are areas that are more heavily wooded, there are open areas, there's rivers and lakes scattered around. Our grizzlies can make a home here. Next thing our grizzlies have to do, a food check. About 75% of their diet would be fruits and leaves and nuts. Will there be enough? There should be. The grizzly will look around at all herbivores and see that they're finding plenty of food sources. Not just the gazelles and zebras, but how about those huge horned buffaloes? How about those rotund rhinos? How about those hefty hippos? How about those massive elephants? The grizzlies may be shocked, they're no longer the largest animal in their territory. The 2,000-pound cape buffalo and the 5,000-pound rhinos and the 8,000-pound hippos and the 13,000-pound elephants all dwarf them. Luckily, none of them eat meat. But if they can get that big off of plants alone, then it shouldn't be a problem for the grizzlies to keep themselves well-fed off of plants, as long as they keep their distance. These animals don't eat meat, but they charge. And they're bigger. Maybe a grizzly could hold his own against some smaller rhinos or hippos, but best not to test that theory. The grizzly still wants some meat, though. Grizzlies love to fish. The grizzly may like to occasionally visit the rivers here in Africa, but he's never had to worry about anything in the river trying to bite him back. They'll soon catch on to the presence of Nile crocodiles, and they'll realize that the river is not an easy food source like back home. This one requires their defenses to be up. So, how about the land animals? Just like back home, there are small rodents and birds that grizzlies can find. But what if they want something larger? An ungulate like the deer or moose back home? Here they've got similar options. Gazelles, antelope, zebras. It's like eating chicken your whole life and switching to turkey. Similar enough, but it will take some adjusting. And the grizzly will be able to hunt them down just like he used to. The setting is fine. The food is fine. The grizzly is no longer the largest animal here, but everyone who outranks him in size eats strictly plants. Not bad, right? Wait, there's one last important thing to consider here. The grizzly didn't show up and become the only predator. There were already predators here. The grizzlies familiarized themselves with the crocs already, but there are plenty more predators on the land. Those African wild dogs and those jackals, they're smaller than the gray wolves back home, but their pack sizes are larger. The African grizzlies will hold them in the same regard. They'll defend their young from these Hold on, what are those things that look sort of like dogs, but aren't? Hyenas? Those things are big, almost as heavy as the gray wolves back home, but their packs can get enormous. Those guys could be a problem. The grizzlies will need to be on even higher alert. No black bears or any other kind of bears to worry about, but hold on. The grizzly had to worry about a particular feline back home, the cougar. Any felines in the African savanna? Of course, there are leopards who behave similar to cougars, living solitary lives. The danger of leopards coming after grizzly cubs will replace the old danger of cougars, but there are other felines. Sometimes they're in small groups and they're fast. Cheetahs. Those things are smaller but quicker than anything the grizzly has ever seen. The cheetah might try to take a grizzly cub, but it looks more interested in all the ungulates in the area. Most likely they'll just be competition for food sources. Next, the grizzlies are seeing the largest felines on this continent, the lions, and they're almost never alone. Oftentimes it's 6-10 adults together. Though they aren't bigger than the adult grizzly at 1,000 pounds or so, they're still large. 500, maybe 600 pounds each, and they can hit speeds of 50 miles per hour. It's not only a devastating blend of power and speed, making for a near-perfect killing machine, but they always roll with backup. These guys are going to be a problem. If only grizzlies lived in a pack, the pride of lions would be less of an issue. But the reality is that grizzlies live solo. One grizzly versus six lions wouldn't be a fair fight. A grizzly could do plenty of damage, but the sheer numbers of these big cats would be overwhelming. The lions may be keen on taking a grizzly cub, and it would be hard to stop them. And as the grizzlies observe these lions from afar, they see just how scary they are. They work together, and they take out animals, sometimes even the occasional cape buffalo. So, if they can take down those animals, then the grizzly could be a target. The grizzlies know the lions are looking at them with cautious curiosity too, though. They see the grizzlies and they know they are formidable opponents. They all know that the grizzlies could deliver a few swipes and bites and ruin their day, or make it their last day. So, a form of mutual respect will be there between the animals, but a contentious kind of hatred will be there too. This trip to Africa is going to make for a lot of adjusting. But with all the adjusting, will the grizzlies make it? Can the bears live in Africa? The grizzlies could get by in this dangerous place, but it will be far from easy. The reality is grizzlies will no longer be the largest animal in their habitat. They used to be apex predators, now they're just another predator. The next largest predator in their old home was either the cougar or gray wolf or black bear, meaning the grizzly was three to five times the size of the next largest predator. Now, having to share a habitat with lions, it's far different. The grizzly is the largest predator, but he isn't even twice the size of number two. The gap has closed. Before, the only animals that were regularly larger than the grizzly was the moose, outweighing him by a few hundred pounds. The moose was considered possible prey. Now, there's a handful of different animals that are larger than the grizzly in the Cape buffalo, the rhino, the hippo, the giraffe, and the elephant. Some of them are three times his size, five times his size, ten times his size. The grizzly isn't top dog. Grizzlies are resourceful, dangerous powerhouses, but they've long been in an environment that they can dominate. They were undisputed kings of their North American habitats. In the African savannah, many of them will succumb to the dangers, but they'll put up a fight and defeat many of these enemies, and in large part, the grizzlies will survive. Not all of them, but they could continue to live in the African savannah as just another predator.