# Polar Bear vs Saltwater Crocodile



## Waking Dreamer (May 8, 2012)

_Setting:_ Olympic-size swimming pool body of saltwater
_Starting Distance:_ 10 meters swimming head on.
_Depth: _1.8 meters (6 ft)

*Polar Bear Stats:*
_Length:_ 3m (9.8 ft)
_Weight:_ 680kg (1500 lbs)

*Saltwater Croc Stats:*
_Length:_ 5.5m (18 ft)
_Weight:_ 680kg (1500 Ibs)


----------



## Geralt of Rivia (May 8, 2012)

Croc wins this quite handily.


----------



## Kind of a big deal (May 8, 2012)

Water temperature matters. I suspect that the crocodile is more at home in the water, being faster and more versatile, probably being able to bite the polar bear. But (correct me if this is incorrect) being a reptile, ice cold water, native to a polar bear, would make a crocodile sluggish and semi-asleep, I would think.

To me the question is, could the crocodile kill a polar bear with 1 bite, or/and would the polar bear be able to kill a crocodile, while being bitten? When crocodiles bite down on a prey, they ususally twist and or drag the prey into the water. If it grabs onto the bear, it wouldn't let go, typically. And that's interesting, because bears are pretty good wrestlers.

Polar bears have thick and layered fur, and usually some fat reserves, when in their best conditions, to deal with the cold. If not bitten in the face or neck, I'm guessing a polar bear could survive a bite initially, though of course he could be injured, like broken bones or something, from the pressure, but the cuts and lacerations would not be fatal.

But if not out-right killed, a panicking bear would be amazingly strong, and probably able to out-wrestle a crocodile. Or slash it with claws since the crocodile is hanging on to the bear anyway.

So then my conclusion is: If the crocodile bites down on the neck, it wins. If the bear is bitten somewhere else, it has better odds to win, but be injured.


----------



## Glued (May 8, 2012)

Geralt of Rivia said:


> Croc wins this quite handily.



Black Bears eat alligators twice their size.


----------



## Waking Dreamer (May 8, 2012)

Kind of a big deal said:


> Water temperature matters. I suspect that the crocodile is more at home in the water, being faster and more versatile, probably being able to bite the polar bear. But (correct me if this is incorrect) being a reptile, ice cold water, native to a polar bear, would make a crocodile sluggish and semi-asleep, I would think.



Hmm...lets say the water is cool like a swimming pool but not ice cold. However the sun is out and the crocodile has sunbathed in the sun before entering the water.


----------



## Waking Dreamer (May 8, 2012)

Kind of a big deal said:


> To me the question is, could the crocodile kill a polar bear with 1 bite, or/and would the polar bear be able to kill a crocodile, while being bitten? When crocodiles bite down on a prey, they ususally twist and or drag the prey into the water. If it grabs onto the bear, it wouldn't let go, typically. And that's interesting, because bears are pretty good wrestlers.



Crocodiles I dont think kill animals the size of Zebra and Wildebeest in one bite even when in the water. However they have enough strength to hold the animals nose/mouth under the water surface long enough to drown them.

Polar bears are more natural in the water than the herd animals crocs often prey upon, and also have the ability to hold their breath underwater. If in the jaws of a croc say an arm, they can also swipe with their other arm/claws in defense which would be more of a fight than a drowning Zebra.


----------



## Azrael Finalstar (May 8, 2012)

The croc has a chance, but not that big of one.


----------



## Louis-954 (May 8, 2012)

In the water I think the Crocodile can take it quite handidly. I'm pretty sure the fight would end up with the Polar Bear being exhausted and the Crocodile ultimately drowning it.


----------



## All Star Rogue (May 8, 2012)

Even if it walks away with injuries, I think the Polar Bear takes this. It's adapted to the cold, so the temperature of the pool is probably in its favor, even if it isn't Ice Cold.


----------



## Waking Dreamer (May 8, 2012)

The pros for the crocodile would be its explosive power, and snapping bite force. At a depth of 1.8m of water it should be able to utilize it's large, powerful tail for lunge attacks and strong head twists. The death roll if it has a portion of the of the bear in its jaw and could do massive amounts of damage if it gains momentum.

While the setting doesnt allow the polar bear to retreat to land it can however if standing on its hind legs have its head clear out of the water. The croc would still be able to tail-power its jaws to the head height of the bear while standing, though it would come down to the explosive, forward momentum of a croc against the paw power and tanking ability of the bear.


----------



## Waking Dreamer (May 15, 2012)

Just an update, I got this response from another site from a person who has a degree in zoology,  degree in animal behaviour and anatomy, wildlife park/zoo experience etc.: 




> I would favor the Crocodile for various reasons.
> 
> The Bear all though a competent swimmer and able to travel over water for long distances, does not posses the speed necessary or visibility to combat a Crocodile in 6 ft of water. Crocodile's are built for high speed bursts when hunting, and would be able to completely disappear from the Bears visibility in 6 ft of water. The Bear, if standing on its hind legs, would easily be knocked off balance by the extremely fast attacking Crocodile, and with 5000 lbs of bite force, and a massive range of motion, the Crocodile could easily grip the Bears head or throat and kill it relatively quickly.


----------



## Kind of a big deal (May 15, 2012)

I dunno if that's the whole post, but basically the whole thing revolves around the odds of the crocodile getting a bite on the bear's neck. That's pretty much what I thought as well in my initial post, it's the only way for the crocodile to win.

How likely is it to actually do that, though? I don't think it's 100% sure. Pretty much everyone has seen crocodiles bite animals in documentaries, and I have seen animals react at least fast enough to evade being bitten in the neck. And that was from surprise attacks from on animals drinking water. 

Sure, animals like gazelles and such are naturally twitchy and especially when drinking water, so you have to take that into account, but surely a polar bear that _knows_ it's going to fight a crocodile (we assume this much?), also knows it has an opponent, so I don't think it would be caught off guard _that_ easily.

Making a guess on the odds of the croc biting the neck is really hard. It depends on how much more agile the crocodile is under water. Is it agile enough to outswim even an armstroke of the bear or a twith reflex turn of the shoulder (since that's all it would take to protect the neck, which is, I assume a natural instinct)? I think it's more 50-50 that the crocodile gets a good clean bite/grip on the bear's neck that kills it outright. Anything that catches even a bit of collarbone or shoulder, or even the skull, would mean a struggle, and a big white furry problem for the crocodile.


----------



## feebas_factor (May 15, 2012)

Kind of a big deal said:


> I dunno if that's the whole post, but basically the whole thing revolves around the odds of the crocodile getting a bite on the bear's neck. That's pretty much what I thought as well in my initial post, it's the only way for the crocodile to win.



Really? I actually imagined the most likely way for the crocodile to win is via drowning/exhausting the bear in the water, since that's usually how it kills everything else.

Admittedly that's a much higher-difficulty method of winning, but it seems more probable then getting lucky with a bite and actually getting the polar bear somewhere vital right off the bat.


----------



## Kind of a big deal (May 15, 2012)

Well yes, it's not guaranteed that the bear would win a struggle, but he has more advantages. He can put his feet on the ground, for one thing.

Crocodiles don't have a very agile body, they mostly use their weight and tail to twist and turn their prey, when wrestling. They can turn sideways like a boss, but when have you actually seen one turn it's upper body in a different direction than it's lower body? Never, right? That's why they roll their whole body when trying to overpower an opponent. That doesn't work so well since floating in water makes the croc lighter to bare for the bear (not even a pun). And the bear isn't floating.

Another advantage for the bear is his paw reach. He could just claw at the croc untill it _has_ to let go.


----------



## ZenGamr (May 15, 2012)

Ben Grimm said:


> Black Bears eat alligators twice their size.




Aren't salt water's the largest reptile in the world. I highly doubt these alligators you speak of exist.


----------



## Heavenly King (May 15, 2012)

Ben Grimm said:


> Black Bears eat alligators twice their size.



Salty water Croc are much big then Gators..


Once an alligator reaches adulthood, any animal living in the water or coming to the water to drink is potential prey. Adult alligators will eat wild boars, deer, dogs of all sizes, livestock including cattle and sheep, and are often known to kill and eat smaller alligators. In rare instances, large male alligators have been known to prey on the Florida panther and American black bear, making the American alligator the apex predator throughout its distribution.


----------



## Im The Evil Mastermind (May 15, 2012)

I give it to the creature that lives in a somewhat aquatic enviroment.


----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)

ZenGamr said:


> Aren't salt water's the largest reptile in the world. I highly doubt these alligators you speak of exist.



Black Bears eat gators twice the size of the black bear.


----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)

I've actually been to Okefenokee as a boy scout and one of my scout masters told me about how black bears killed gators.


----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)




----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)




----------



## Heavenly King (May 15, 2012)

no pictures just what some one told some one..


----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)

A black bear is much smaller than a gator, especially those in southern states that usually grow to 300 lb, 500 lb if lucky. These are not the 700 lb monsters from Queens Charlotte island.


At equal weights, the bear destroys the gator.

A black bears claws are designed to rip open bark and termite mounds.
A polar bears claws are designed for killing.


----------



## Heavenly King (May 15, 2012)

Ben Grimm said:


> A black bear is much smaller than a gator, especially those in southern states that usually grow to 300 lb, 500 lb if lucky. These are not the 700 lb monsters from Queens Charlotte island.
> 
> 
> At equal weights, the bear destroys the gator.
> ...



Yes they are smaller then gators. Black bear's are shy creatures if they were to get into the black bear would run off in mins of the fight.


yea that's true polar bears claw's are use for killing. but we are talking about  saltwater croc who's a killing machine


----------



## Glued (May 15, 2012)

Heavenly King said:


> Yes they are smaller then gators. Black bear's are shy creatures if they were to get into the black bear would run off in mins of the fight.
> 
> 
> yea that's true polar bears claw's are use for killing. but we are talking about  saltwater croc who's a killing machine



A polar bear is also a killing machine.


----------



## Heavenly King (May 15, 2012)

Ben Grimm said:


> A polar bear is also a killing machine.



very true indeed friend


----------



## feebas_factor (May 15, 2012)

Ben Grimm said:


> *snip*



Well yes... on land, a bear would destroy all but the largest crocodile.

But water is far more the crocodile's domain, even compared to a polar bear. And an underwater battle is a near-entirely different game.


----------



## Neo-jplaya (May 15, 2012)

Damn,this makes me miss that one show on Animal planet.

they has a GWS vs. Saltwater Croc fight that had good feats data as well.

EDIT: found em, but they don't have all the info they used to.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o7nLZWyinI&feature=relmfu[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPl1x93dBCE&feature=relmfu[/YOUTUBE]


----------



## Barioth (May 16, 2012)

Mostly likely a Draw. Coco Cola Polar Bear wins with high difficulty.

Crocodile aren't build for long struggle. They prefer to be ambush their target. 

They both have acute sense of smell so they mostly likely sense each other already.

Lets say they both smell the dead carcass. And they decide to go for each other for fresh kill. I go with Polar Bear. Because Salty already lost the element of surprise. 

However the Salty still pertains the element of surprise if the Polar Bears arrive at first and was busying stuffing the carcass.

One way Salty wins is that Polar Bear has a longer neck compare to other bears and clamp it down and perform a death roll. 

Another problem with dealing Polar Bear is its height and weight. By the weight and height it can knock out Salty Heads. Polar Bear are known to pounce the ground/ice referring to its home turf. You don't really want that 1 Ton Pounce on your head.


----------

