[throwaway984393]

I'm afraid of running into bears by accident while trail-running in areas with lots of black bears (not even brown! I'm a sissy), and meanwhile I had a run-in with a bull moose on a narrow mountain ledge and had to scramble up the mountain and hide behind a tree.... but I'm still not as afraid of moose as I am bears, even though I know moose are much more dangerous! So fear is weird and often irrational. We should probably assume that just telling people rational things about their fears won't assuage them.

[eyelidlessness]

I have had:

- A black bear suddenly charge toward me around a blind bend, stopping maybe 15-20 feet away, staring for a while before it took off down the side of the mountain

- A moose walk calmly by me, not much more than an arm’s length away

Both were absolutely terrifying experiences. Objectively, the bear encounter was probably the more dangerous (it was clearly startled so potentially unpredictable), but both the proximity and the casualness of the moose’s approach scared me much more.

[slavik81]

That video of a moose running through waist deep snow is my canonical example of impressive feats of moose. I would not want to anger one. https://youtu.be/6GEhM2Byk7w?t=1m

[eyelidlessness]

Amazing to watch! But yeah I’ll be happy if I’m never anywhere near that close again.

[BXLE_1-1-BitIs1]

The one time I pulled out my bear spray was for a moose.

[smegger001]

probably because we have alot more neural wiring the recognizes bears as a threat while ruminant have long history as food thus less of a embedded fear reaction.