Wild Animals in the Anglo Saxon Mind

CORRECTION: It seems that in a lot of countries it's common to see bears, particularly black bears! Apologies for making that assumption.
eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/753/1/...
digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/32...
books.google.co.uk/books?hl=e...
Mammals shown (all pictures from Wikimedia commons):
Brown bear
Eurasian wolf
Red fox
European badger
European wildcat
Eurasian lynx
Red deer
Roe deer
Wild boar
Eurasian beaver
Wood mouse
Brown rat
Stoat
Weasel
Mole
Mountain hare

[@meowcula]

your voice is coming through fine. I think I speak for many when I say - when is the BBC going to get on giving you your own series?

[@that1niceguy246]

and also when is he going to get an honorary degree in linguistcs because at this point he is pretty much a linguist who is just missing an official certificate

[@peteacher52]

Too much truth, which at present is not a BBC trait.

[@cygil1]

When he converts to Islam?

[@magesalmanac6424]

@@cygil1 could you please not ruin the vibe with dumb political comments?

[@mrzold]

Audio quality: A Paisleys: A Animals: A Sideburns: A Focus: uh oh

[@nickpatella1525]

Gura: A

[@BluJean6692]

For a video like this is doesn't really matter. Personally if I imagine running a channel like this myself, I could see myself not wanting my face to be in 100% crystal-clear well-lit focus for every single video lol...

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

That chin wig has to go though.

[@user-hm9uq8gk5x]

Fortunately the focus of the video is not on the footage of him :)

[@noahgodard3338]

The focus provides charm

[@therealsimlady]

Simon, you should get a Patreon! And then a microphone.

[@gregoryspatisserie9858]

Ahahah

[@polishgitthethird2335]

wild saxon link kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3PRloewocZ-Z6s

[@luxtenebris7246]

First time I went to England I was a little kid. I was raised in the Western US, and spent a lot of time in the wilderness. Anyway we landed in London and did the usual tourist stuff which I liked well enough, and then I was told we were leaving the city to explore. As we drove out of the city, I kept waiting for the end of civilization and the beginning of the wilderness. But it never came. Right as I thought we must be getting there we’d run into a village, and then another, and another. We’d take a turn, go in a different direction, and run into another village. I started getting this eerie, uncomfortable feeling. I felt trapped. At home, I always knew the wilderness was there, just in the distance, maybe the mountains, maybe the plains or the forest, depending on which direction you travelled. It gave me a feeling of safety. It was the Last Chance. If doomsday came, you could always go into the wild. It would be dirty, and uncomfortable but at least it was an escape. Somewhere you couldn’t be found. Somewhere you could make a go of it in a primitive fashion. Now in England my childlike mind was beginning to realize that if something horrible happened here there was nowhere to run. We were surrounded. Every direction had more villages, more towns, and eventually other cities. Thinking about it brought me close to a panic. I marveled as I watched the seemingly relaxed people going about their day unconcerned. I was amazed that their entrapment didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. It was like looking at someone with a noose around their neck unhurriedly drinking a cup of tea. I was scared and confused, and they were bored and at ease. Anyway, all of this is to say that the presence or absence of wild life and wild lands has interesting and subtle effects on our psychology, which we often aren’t aware of until we go somewhere else.

[@goosegirl941]

Vase DePaix I know the feeling you’re speaking of really well, but you described it much better than I could have!

[@bigcat5348]

I describe Britain as, except for the cities (which I disliked), being a land where human society and natural society have become so totally integrated that it's nearly impossible to say where civilization ends and wilderness begins. Personally I enjoy the aesthetic of the countryside in England a lot, but yeah I get what you mean. Britian did occassionally give me this eerie sense of the omnipresence of the established civilization and government. But it's not usually there. (I'm not British btw)

[@anarchodolly]

As someone who has always lived in urban Britain, I get the opposite, and it's being out in the countryside that sparks that sense of being isolated and vulnerable. I mean, there aren't many places in Britain that are genuinely isolated: a few hours walk in any given direction is generally enough to get you back to some level of civilisation. Even so, it's quite unsettling, as an essentially unfamiliar environment. Navigation requires different skills and experiences to a city-dweller; boundaries between public footpaths and private property is often hazy, not least because footpaths are often more theoretical than visible on the ground, and then there's the animals. It seems obvious enough to keep your distance from livestock, but farm animals don't always reciprocate: I've had horses get right up in my face, and once got stalked and chased by a whole herd of cows through a field in Weardale. In either case, if I'd been in a city and dealing with a smackhead or a gang of charvers, I'd have known how to handle that, but with large animals? Run away! Run away! :-p

[@helenahandkart1857]

I feel what you are saying, but I do love the English & Scottish countryside. It is like a giant parkland of farmlets speckled with villages & cities. I reckon that the notion of people & the land being long integrated there seems right. I enjoy especially how much water is there, & the rain. I'm Australian & our land, even farmlands, are quite different. I am most comfortable in temperate lands like that, even here, in bushland mixed with feral plants & creatures. We have 10 acres of the coldest wettest land we could find!

[@ThisIsRiky]

Beautiful comment

[@RRW359]

"The bones of wild Birds don't last very long" *Angry Dinosaur noises*

[@traviswork7143]

Recording sounds fine.

[@timothybradford6652]

Better

[@colonelporridge8974]

Yeah, I’m an audio guy and I’m astounded by the sound on that phone. Also no need for stereo in a dialogue track.

[@richtea615]

We still call badgers 'Old Brocc' down our end.

[@The_Gallowglass]

Badgers: tank weasels

[@Dreyno]

Badger is “broc” in Irish as well. And people often call them “brock” when speaking English. Also sometimes used as a nickname for stocky, muscular types.

[@leod-sigefast]

@@Dreyno Brock/Brocc was one of the few Celtic loan words in Old English. So, yes the Irish word will be the same. I guess the Anglo-Saxons adopted it from the native Britons/Welsh.

[@Edward-ry1jk]

The badger in Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit stories is called Tommy Brock, from the Anglo-Saxon Brocc, I imagine.

[@pricklypear7516]

As kids, we called your pond skater a "water strider" or (in what might have been just neighborhood nomenclature) a "Jesus-bug."

[@mellonlord4616]

Yes, I grew up with water skipper or jesus bug.

[@herrfister1477]

You mean a neighbourhood name, perhaps. Nomenclature is a naming system. Sometimes when you try to seem smart you end up looking dumb.

[@notnullnotvoid]

@@herrfister1477 Oxford gives as a definition of nomenclature: "the term or terms applied to someone or something". Merriam-Webster gives: "the act or process or an instance of naming". So it's evidently a perfectly valid way to use the word. Sure enough, when you try to seem smart, you sometimes end up looking dumb.

[@Quarton]

Growing up in Illinois, we called it "water strider" also. Bears are not common is some parts of the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. is a very big country, and Canada, even larger. Bears and wolves are seen in the West, up North and especially in Alaska. They're seen in the rural areas, where the timber is thick and out in the mountainous areas, and on the farmlands.

[@herrfister1477]

Not Null Sorry no. If you have to look it up then you don’t understand.

[@analphabetapolothoIogy]

i'm australian and i've never seen a bear, just wanted to be included

[@berlingolingoful]

Lol

[@fimbulsummer]

Taiwanlight Drop bear aren’t really bears, it’s a common misunderstanding because they look like bears and are really cute. But still totally deadly.

[@fimbulsummer]

Taiwanlight 🙇‍♀️ That. Was. Magnificent.

[@pimpozza]

@Taiwanlight Excellent post.. *loved it!* 👏

[@jamessamuel1255]

Kiwi here! Can confirm, I’ve never seen an Aussie. I hear they’re quite a strange bogan creature

[@herrfister1477]

From reading the comments everyone watching this video is from North America and has seen a bear.

[@devenscience8894]

Lived and worked in North America my whole life, in areas where bears are known to exist (including Colorado, Alaska, and California), and it's never fully occurred to me that I've never seen a bear in the wild. Just zoos. EDIT: I just remembered that I did hear one in our campground once at night, rooting around, but didn't lay eyes on it.

[@rowanmcgovern1343]

Haha I'm from america and I was ready to comment on behalf of people who have seen bears. I'm not one of them, but I know they wander into cities if you live closer to the woods. Though I think Simon's probably correct in saying the Anglo Saxons wouldn't have seen them very often

[@bob8065]

If you live in the foresty areas in the north you definitely see them. My grandparents built a house in the mountains of PA and they've seen them many times. They just don't cool in cities much

[@bguen1234]

You won't, generally, see bears walking around near your hotel or near the tourist spots with parking lots. But, if you can spend a few hours on the back trails several miles away from other people you have a very good chance of seeing them. I once saw a black bear crossing a trail, walking on his back legs, so he could see over the underbrush. Quite a sight.

[@5roundsrapid263]

You’d have to be deep in the woods and/or mountains of the US to see a wild bear. I have seen them, but only in a national park.

[@rebeccasmed1170]

I live in Southern California, and bears wander into the suburbs near the mountains on a regular basis. Though they are generally shy around people, and the encounters are not dangerous.

[@letozabalmaty]

Shying bear, how cute)))

[@deanrichard1770]

Especially in Yosemite i saw multiple wild bears there

[@losangelesnefastvs]

Word. Especially around the foothill communities.

[@jobdylan5782]

Every bear encounter is potentially dangerous.

[@bigcat5348]

I'd love for you to talk more about the idea of liminality, because I've found that it's a very common theme in folklore and fairy tales.

[@helenahandkart1857]

Yes, I like this idea too!

[@inakik97]

A good read about that topic is "The Grotesque in western art and culture: The image at play" by Frances Conelly

[@jamessamuel1255]

Does that include liminal spaces or am I thinking of the wrong thing

[@SuperTroloman]

When I went to visit my grandfather in British Columbia, Canada, There were bears all over the place. Everyone had a story of seeing one and I saw one in my gramps garden!

[@coast2coast00]

In the wild parts of Ontario as well. If you spend time in the wilderness around here, you will see bears often. They are about as common in the wild as a skunk, porcupine, or eagle. The walking trail between the university and college has had 2 bears on it this year, and that's right in the middle of the city.

[@holofernez]

Sideburns are looking a solid 9.5/10 today Simon , keep it up

[@joshuahillerup4290]

On the bear thing. I can't comment on the early Ango-Saxon period people, but I've seen bears when I've been near a rural garbage dump, and spotting them is definitely not unusual if you live in a rural area. Like, not something you'll see all the time, but most people in those areas will have seen them at some point in their life. I'm in Ontario, Canada if that helps.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

@Alexandra McLean I'm in Ottawa too, although I think I've only seen them in Haliburton

[@gilesfarmer5953]

Well done Simon, another piece of Anglo Saxon gold. You'll know this already, but the Anglo Saxon word for badger "brocce" is of course one of the very few loan words from the native older British languages, and survives today as brock, still used in some areas. Greetings from a Yorkshire bloke in Australia.

[@somgesomgedus9313]

In German another word for dragon/Drache is Lindwurm

[@abruemmer77]

"Wyrm" reminds of german "Gewürm" which means all kinds of creeping, wormlike animals.

[@somgesomgedus9313]

Ja sowohl „wyrm“ als auch „Wurm“ stammen vom proto-germanischen Wort „wurmiz“ ab

[@hoathanatos6179]

@@abruemmer77 Snake also has a similar meaning in Indo-European languages, where sneg means crawl. German has Schnecke for snail just as Lithuanian has Snakė and Sanskrit has the word Naga of the same root. In Old Irish the verb to crawl is snaighim.

[@esquilax5563]

I would love to watch a historical TV drama with all the actors speaking authentic Anglo-Saxon

[@SamueleCastiglioni]

there's an italian movie, The first king (2019), in Old Latin

[@stevenlowe3026]

There was a TV show in 2000 called, if I recall, "The Year 1000", which between the talking heads, had a story of the inhabitants of a village in the time of the Viking invasions, all spoken in Old English.

[@luisajohnson725]

I have lived in the US near the Canadian border my whole life, and bears are common here. They are a nuisance in town as they like to dumpster dive and raid bird feeders. I have seen black bears several times, and once scared one away from our rural home by spraying it with water through our window 😂

[@mackenlyparmelee5440]

Same, I'm in the southwestern U.S. (quite close to the Mexican border) and it's very common to come across them in the mountains. Bear hunting is also very popular here and a lot of hikers here carry a side-arm or bear spray for bears as well as mountain lions.

[@mattmexor2882]

But the vast majority of the population of the US lives in areas where there are no bears or there are bears only in the mountains and forests. So he's probably right that the majority of the population have never seen a wild bear. I've seen wild bears once in my life.

[@CAMacKenzie]

I live in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles. When I've seen bears in the wild, it's generally been in national parks, especially Yellowstone and those in the Sierra Nevada. Most Americans are city-dwellers, and for them, if they don't go camping, or to national or state parks in wild areas, they probably don't see them, though, bears occasionally turn up (also cougars, but not bobcats, which seem to me to be much shyer) around the edges of cities here in the western U.S. My wife used to live in an apartment complex in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles, and there was a cougar that came into the complex sometimes and took pets that weren't kept inside. I wonder if Anglo-Saxon had words for things like earthquakes and tornadoes, which must have been very rare phenomena for them. Unless they went to Iceland or the Mediterranian, very long journeys, they would never have seen a volcano, though they might have heard of them in travellers tales. You could do a vid on names for things like that, and the way they were viewed.

[@leehaseley2164]

Pond skaters are called a water boatman in Shropshire.

[@simonroper9218]

That's funny, there's a separate sort of insect that I'd call a water boatman! A sort of beetle thing with two legs much larger than the others.

[@neil1865]

@@simonroper9218 I'm pretty sure that's because people are aware of the term water boatmen and assume it refers to pond skaters (water boatmen usually stay underwater so they're much less obvious)

[@differous01]

They're called pond skaters in Shropshire (the smaller type depicted, with the orange stripes down the side, is a water cricket). They're classified as 'bugs' - having a proboscis with which they pierce and eat prey caught on the water surface - while water boatmen are beetles which use long, paddle-like hind limbs, to swim underwater. They might have been be grouped together in Old English, but I found all the above in the Severn and in ponds on the Brown Clee and got the names from older relatives.

[@smorrow]

@@neil1865 Kind of like daddy long-legs.

[@tsalVlog]

We studied the Exeter Book as part of my AP English class (US schools) a very long time ago. I recognized the riddle immediately!

[@thefiendinthedark2343]

what does it mean????

[@alesxemsky]

In Russia we call a pond skater “водомерка” (vodomerka) literally “a water measurer”, and yes, we have brown bears all over the country, i.e. in Far East in Kamchatka they are so common that I personally saw a dosen of them in distance during my 2 weeks stay there.

[@stoferb876]

In swedish we call those water pond insects 'skräddare' which means 'tailor'. Don't know why, they aren't producing tiny little clothes or anything like that. Haven't seen a bear, but I've seen wolves a couple of times. Wolves are sometimes considered a pest in rural communities, it's not so much whatever lamb or chicken or whatever they might take as prey but the fact that often many more animals will get hurt or killed in the process of a wolf getting away with one of them.

[@ulfr-gunnarsson]

@Ales Xemsky Bears are all around Russia, but question is have any Russian seen a wild bear anywhere besides zoos and nature reserves? I personally haven't, only seen them in zoo. Greets from Belarus.

[@davidparry1982]

We have the same for skater but the 6 legged version is measurer

[@degradedecho8397]

That toad pissing in your face in the old house tidbit you was hilarious! 🎈

[@parascopicvision]

Love the nature setting for this video, and the audio works well considering.

[@iangpark]

That view they had that an animal dies because it is outwith its purpose is astounding. It is obvious they were more connected to animals than us now because we have lost that understanding in modern Britain. It is also, inadvertently, a brilliant way of thinking on a habitat scale rather than the species one we are used to.

[@jamiewatson9027]

Thanks again Simon. In Norfolk, we have the medieval legend of the Ludham Worm, a supposed serpent which haunted the Broadland village of Ludham until some enterprising villager put a large rock in front of the entrance to its lair. Perhaps an Anglo-Saxon folk memory of some liminal creature?

[@ICULooking]

Since you asked: "Rural" mountainous Western half of Canada (and corresponding parts of the US) have plenty of bears. Campgrounds all over Canada attract the odd bear if you're not careful.

[@GalacticMilkfoam]

Dialogue and vocals are often recorded in mono, so if anything it should help with clarity. The phone mic sounds good. As for the content, the angry toads tidbit alone was well worth the watch.

[@cuso0531]

I am from New Jersey in USA and we have bears but I've never seen one here, but I lived in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina for two years and saw several there, sometimes in surprisingly urban areas. Always black bears, which pose little to no threat. They are not feared very much, and are really very cute! Thanks for another great video. Your interest and wide breadth of knowledge in the many facets of Anglo-Saxon life is always a pleasure to behold.

[@jrodowens]

Hopefully you appreciate that black bears can and DO pose a threat to humans, in certain circumstances, i.e. when bears are under pressure (to put on calories after hibernation or shortly before, to protect cubs or food source or personal space) They are rarely a threat to humans who give them a wide berth, do not feed them or act like prey, etc. That said, there are instances of adult black bears stalking and killing/predating humans in the United States and Canada. You might be interested to know a young man (college student, I believe) was killed and partially eaten by a black bear in YOUR STATE not long ago! Unverified predatory attacks in the Smoky Mountains*, verified predation in Canada, Arizona, Rocky mountains, etc. in last 20 years. IF a black bear does decide to attack an unarmed human, that person is essentially defenseless - our physiology is not adapted for such force/trauma. Far from harmless. That said, people simply need a rational, healthy respect for bears and ALL wild animals. I'm not saying you don't have this attitude, just food for thought. *bears found to have eaten two individuals (different incidents/bears) in Smoky Mountains in recent years, but couldn't be 'proven' that their deaths resulted from the bear attacking, i.e. possibly were scavenged after death

[@CAMacKenzie]

Black bears can be startlingly strong. Back in the 1960s, I went with my parents to Yellowstone, and there were black bears at every turnout. You don't see them so much now, since the Park Service cleaned the place up, and they fine people for doing dumb things, but it was different then. We saw a car with the A-pillar smashed in, and asked the owner what happened. "Well, we were feeding a bear and we ran out of marshmellows, so we rolled up the window, and the bear took a swipe at the car with its paw." That was impressive, and we were more careful about staying away from them.

[@tidge879]

My old headmaster did his history PhD on the social importance of the rabbit in early medieval England. Rabbits were deliberately introduced by the Normans. A rabbit Warren was the property of the King and would be assigned a guard. If I remember rightly, this was actually a position of significant power and held by a knight. Rabbits were the food of kings and defended as such.

[@nfraehlich]

As far as bears go, it depends on where you’re from. In some areas bears are very common, a lot of people from urban areas would never have seen a bear. Bears, like all wildlife, tend to come feed where people leave things lying about (bird feeders, trash bins, etc.) but in some places it can be considered dangerous to, for example, go berry picking because that is a bear’s food source. Black bears I’d say are much more likely to wander through a neighborhood. A grizzly bear is probably more elusive but if it’s a resident of your area you’re certainly going to want to keep that in mind when you’re wandering about. I’d also say that I’m not sure how big the wild boar are in England, but the wild boar here are considered extremely dangerous.

[@flamefang]

Just concurring here, but I live in a fairly suburban part of New York, and it's not unheard of for black bears to just wander about the streets or sit in people's driveways in the early hours of the morning, or after sunset. Of course, they're mainly looking for food, and will overturn trash cans or attempt to open containers with anything edible inside.

[@JenniferKipp37]

Yes, I've seen bears many times, but I used to live near a national park.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Wild boar in North America have crossbred with domestic pigs. They can be massive. North America has no true native pig.

[@5roundsrapid263]

A S They’re a major pest in the South and Midwest. Many states let you hunt them all year with no limit. A woman was killed by a pack of them in Houston recently.

[@redfoxonstilts]

Wild boars are considered the most dangerous wild animals in Eastern Europe.

[@JoGaltrey]

Really interesting musings here Simon. I’m fascinated.

[@watleythewizard2381]

As an Australian, I find the idea of being unaware of wild animal life unthinkable. It's impossible to avoid. Thanks for the Brocc.

[@watleythewizard2381]

Evi1M4chine well, that sounds absolutely unappealing . Wildlife and beasties of all types are more important even than a Simon Roper video, just.

[@redfoxonstilts]

I'm from Eastern Europe. We have bears. Quite a few people have seen them. I used to visit my grandmother every summer, she lives in a village. Not the English kind, an actual village where people farm for their livelihood. And people there told me many stories of seeing wolves and bears. My own father was stalked by a lone wolf as a child. I haven't seen one because I've never been allowed to go that deep in the forest, but I have seen a wolf pup. My point is, if you live in a city or a town close to a city, you're not likely to see them. If you live in relatively remote places, it definitely won't be unheard of. Also, almost forgot, a Romanian friend just posted a video of a bear on his facebook story. He was on a mountain road, so quite remote, but still, if you go hiking and camping in those places bears are something to be aware of.

[@thezoque_]

honestly the mono audio in both ears just amplifies the asmr of your voice

[@grahaminn]

Seeing bears is pretty common in parts of the US. In the pacific northwest they sometimes wander into residential areas adjacent to forest.

[@redfoxonstilts]

In Eastern Europe too, if you live somewhere near a forest you might see one. Ours are brown bears though, so can be dangerous.

[@vlad_accent_coach]

Your aesthetics... Love it.

[@sleepinthemorningcalm]

These videos are really well made and they also help me deal with panic attacks, so thanks Simon

[@beckihayes220]

Yes! he has got magic in his voice hasn't he

[@jamesgeorge7579]

I love stuff like this, so much of history focuses on what people did and not what they thought

[@rattrap1009]

As far as recording goes, I would recommend getting some lapel or lavalier mics that you can either run directly into your phone or into your camera. Your phone sounds perfectly fine, I just know I wouldn’t want to hold my phone all the time, and I’d be lazy about syncing up my phone audio to my video! Also, I’m from the US and I have never personally seen a bear in the wild. They’re extremely reclusive animals who don’t like to come near humans too much, and humans don’t tend to get near them if we can help it. They are perhaps the only major animal endemic to my region that I have never seen in the wild.

[@charlisparkles]

Audio sounds great playing on my LG TV! Better quality than usual. - Though I never noticed an issues with your audio in previous videos, it is a richer, fuller sound this way.

[@ZoyaStreet]

I just saw a Facebook post about an old tradition in the UK and other parts of northern Europe of "telling the bees": "Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying." Do you know anything about how Anglo Saxons related to bees?

[@kevbee8325]

I’ve never seen a bear but have plenty of slow worms in the garden. Grass snakes and badgers are pretty common here on the border of London/Kent. Very interesting video, thanks.

[@beckihayes220]

Yes my mum grew up there and had a life long fear of snakes She was playing in the garden as a toddler with her neighbour And he was bitten And then died

[@JoeCooper1994]

I absolutely love the way you start each video. It gives what you make such a distinct feeling that makes me want to learn.

[@MsCliveharper]

Áudio sorted 👍 Still amazed at how far removed old English is from modern English, to the point in this verse that I couldn’t understand a word

[@animalunaris]

Clive Harper it’s interesting that growing up being aware of the changes in English over the past 1000 years and how you could barely understand someone from the 14th century nowadays, that seemed the norm and I was shocked to find as a young adult, that there are lots of languages (Greek and Icelandic are two, I think?) that have written forms that are a thousand years old or more and still make perfect sense to current native speakers. I suppose we can’t c9mfirm that they could also speak to the average native speaker of that time easily, but certainly they can read the Eddas.

[@faithlesshound5621]

British schoolchildren can still make sense of Chaucer, from the 14th century: less so Langland and very little of the Gawain-poet.

[@Nagassh]

Sound quality is fine, topic is fascinating.

[@macroverbumsciolist]

a really interesting and enjoyable video! it's fascinating to take a look at the origins of our interactions with nature, in terms of culture and linguistics. also, i've always enjoyed your off-peach background colour you use in your slides. it's just comforting.

[@jonathanyang5735]

I would say as an amarican that grew up in rural parts of the USA and and have traveled extensively. Seeing Bears is not uncommon. Especially if you live in bare country.

[@vloguidice3932]

Don't even have to travel, I had one in my backyard!

[@lindamaemullins5151]

Yep ❤️

[@gregdumas8505]

What a great video! Very excited to have found your channel

[@elainafaust3717]

I think this is one of your best Simon 👍

[@MrGalpino]

I have spent a few weeks in Maine/New Hampshire, and I saw a family of bears. Black, I think. They were eating from hotel bins. Also met a bear on a Japanese mountain trail. That was scary!

[@michael.bombadil9984]

Very interesting video. The histories of the relationships between humans and animals is fascinating. The riddle at the end is perfect; I'll definitely retell it.

[@outfitmadeofawesome]

Canadian here, and I can tell you I have seen hundreds of bears! Always black bears though, never seen a grisly or a polar (thank god)

[@outfitmadeofawesome]

Black bears are very curious, and will come sniffing around for food. They are dangerous, and we take them seriously, but they aren't very scary and are easy to scare off. Most of the large cities in Canada don't have bears around them, but I'm 100% sure than anyone living in rural or wooded areas has seen a bear. They are cool! And shockingly cute. My favourite thing is when you see mama bear with her cubs in the spring, sometimes we go spotting them (always in cars!), but never feeding them. Bears are very common on the west coast. I find it hard to believe that most anglo saxons had never seen a bear, but I suppose if there were no black bears this is possible. It is common to see bears if you live near the woods here. Depending where you are, it might be a weekly experience.

[@outfitmadeofawesome]

@Taiwanlight I really recommend that you leave the city and visit Canada! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and super safe. You won't be hurt by a bear, especially not in a provincial park or near a city. There are some BREATHTAKING nature sites around Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, it would be a shame if you missed out because some Canadian on the internet told you there were bears. Yes, bears are dangerous, but they are also beautiful and bear attacks are incredibly rare. You are more likely to die by human violence in Vancouver than by animal attack in the mountains.

[@outfitmadeofawesome]

@Taiwanlight we'll apologise so hard you'll end up in the hospital for free!

[@hilarychandler3621]

I live in southern Ilinois. In 2020 a brown bear made a cross country trek across 3 states, was followed on social media for about a month or so. The rivers in this area act as trails, providing water, fish, berries.

[@smugcanuck5529]

I was driving up north here in Canada and I saw a bear run across the road right in front of me.

[@jonadams8841]

Growing up in Los Angeles and spending plenty of time in the San Gabriel Mountains that are the northern boundary of the metropolis, bear and large cat sightings are pretty common. I've come across three bears, multiple large cats and plenty of bobcats, even just a few miles from where I lived at the time.

[@donningarmour2873]

California Sierra national forest. I've seen a bear once. Felt rather lucky too. Amazing animals. TY for the vid. Great channel. 😉

[@helenahandkart1857]

A wonderful video, Simon thanks for this lovely & evocative delve into the animist AngloSaxon world. (& a beautiful shirt you are wearing, by the way.)

[@theNunnceler]

I see bears lots cause I spend lots of time in the outdoors, and bears are common in waste areas (like dumps) so its possible they would have done the same in that period. From Canada.

[@theNunnceler]

@Bighill 'obbit mmhmm lol

[@Project1312]

Very nice Simon. Great work.

[@abelstropicalfruit8647]

Great video. Could you do a vid on cognates Between old English And modern Frisian?

[@mrav8r]

Simon the sound is very good. Most considerate.

[@joeldyar8892]

Love what you're doing here man! Keep it up!

[@22poopoo]

Really interesting topic. Love your style and voice Simon. Also love the bird shit on your chairs.. it's to do with animals after all!

[@georgew2014]

Years ago, I was at a US national park for a friend's wedding. Everyone stayed in cabins. The night before the ceremony, a member of the wedding party heard someone at the door. And opened it to let them in. But he found himself face to face with a black bear standing upright . Both ran in opposite directions. Rangers later caught the bear. And released it in a remote section of the park.

[@sldulin]

I live in W Washington State adjacent to a state forest, where I walk with a large dog every day. I see a bear approximately every six weeks or so, provided they are not in their dens. Just black bears, pretty harmless. Just my personal observation- I have many times seen even a sow with cub(s) simply run off, never seen one assume a defensive or aggressive posture. So the bears are definitely here but very shy of any human contact if I didn't have a dog I would almost never see one.

[@jrodowens]

Observations seem to indicate that black bear mothers are far more inclined to flee (with or w/o cubs) than brown bears - though evidence to the contrary exists, including video on KZbin. Likely depends upon many variables, including the bears individual personality/history. An inclination to flee danger (particularly up a tree) makes sense in the context of their recent evolution on the continent in Pleistocene. Most of their time here they shared the land with a dozen or so other large predators, including two larger bears, wild canids, some very large cats, etc. Not trying to be a know-it-all or otherwise douchebag, but I hope you don't truly consider them 'pretty harmless; and consider carrying spray with you when out walking. It is probably unlikely to occur, but it is well-documented now that occasionally adult bears will stalk and predate people. Most recently, a mother black bear with cubs predated upon someone in Colorado, if I can recall correctly.. At the very least, always remember to stop and look around you every so often. Its amazing how close you can get to a large animal before you're aware - even with a dog in certain wind conditions.

[@MiksMaTaunOlema]

Great video! Would love for you to do another one of those Ecolinguist videos but with a Frisian and an Icelander.

[@Chassealarc]

Voice sounds great. Yes, bears depend on geographical area. We have plenty here in Central Georgia USA

[@MikeHoughtonasUnit8720]

in New England specifically in New Hampshire there are reports of bear in back lawns robbing bird feeders.

[@ironfront9573]

The voice sounds fine, but the atmospheric wind and tree noise in your other videos is really good too.

[@StuffOffYouStuff]

another great video. It's heartbreaking to see that list with animals no longer with us though.

[@stephenandersen4625]

Simon: says the word "Adder". Me: starts humming black Adder theme

[@differous01]

The animal known to Anglo-Saxons as the 'morse' gave its name to the moustache which distinguished the English from the Normans in the Bayeux Tapestry. The term fell from use in Middle English to be replaced by the Norse 'walrus'.

[@VONMEEK]

Hay great video! In Scotland there was a programme of reintroduction

[@helloworldstein]

The sound quality is an order of magnitude better. Great video as always

[@Noridin]

I live in Florida, between Orlando and Daytona Beach. I'm very close to a state park and see bears quite often. I have a game game that catches them almost every day in the fall and winter.

[@hedgehog3180]

Randomly got this recomended it and I love it, I love to hear about the worldview of historical people.

[@seorsamaclately4294]

an old term in German for dragon (Drachen) is Lindwurm, so seems to be the same concept as wyrm. lindi in old high german means soft or flexible.

[@charliegolsan2509]

I live in oregon (western US state) and it’s pretty common to have seen a bear, maybe not the majority but certainly a good chunk of oregonians .

[@batintheattic7293]

Two things. Local legend, in the North Pennines, has it that the last wild British Wolf was killed near a place called Wolfcleugh (in Allendale) and it wasn't terribly long ago (1800s maybe). Also, your Lafuma recliners deserve to have the bird poop cleaned off them for their next video appearance. :) Quality item the Lafuma.

[@louismendes4743]

I know you focus primarily on linguistic topics, but I’m guessing you would have some interesting insights into Middle English lit, too. I would love to see something on Chaucer, chivalric romance fiction, that sort of thing. Regardless, I enjoy your videos a whole bunch!

[@taragwendolyn]

For what it's worth, both Girl Guides & Boy Scouts in Canada teach kids to make plenty of noise in the woods, when camping or hiking in bear country, and "bear bells" can be had at almost every camping goods store - wear them on your ankle to make enough noise from your gait to scare off bears who are quite happy to avoid humans if they know you're there. If you camp in bear country you need to be very careful about how you store your food because it will attract wildlife, as they are that common. Like many posters here, I've seen a handful of black bears and one polar bear in the wild. I've also encountered a wolf (once) and several coyotes. All of the above will avoid humans if they know you're there and it was my own fault that I wasn't loud enough to scare them off before I got close.

[@timothyd181]

I live in Ontario, Canada - in the north you will see black bears here and there

[@416dl]

Excellent. Hope you'll someday find yourself visiting Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon where I guide tours, and you WILL see bears...and a whole lot more. Cheers.

[@Lucia-uk4jq]

the audio is pretty good c:

[@Tarkrat]

We have bears in my area. I live in Vermont and it’s quite rural. I have come across them hiking but typically they are drawn to villages and homes because of garbage and raid the bins. I would call them an uncommon interaction but not rare. I enjoy your videos and history you are able to convey. Thanks and keep making more videos, they are great.

[@SparkySywer]

I live in New England, I see bears all the time.

[@cncshrops]

Excellent stuff. Thank you.

[@adelaidewatts1813]

I’m a Canadian, and have seen wild black bears through car windows on multiple occasions. Even the major highways run through more or less true wilderness in Northern Ontario, which I suspect most people in Toronto have been to at least once since I have and am not rich enough to travel much or outdoorsy in the least.

[@hattyburrow716]

You are fascinating mr Roper

[@caesaraugustus9148]

Absolutely facinating

[@peteacher52]

Of course Tolkein was well aware of this - Smaug the dragon was sometimes referred to as a worm and there is the unforgettable episode of Bilbo with Gollum deep underground, "Riddles in the Dark".

[@Pinkerton000]

I am from the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle. It was rare, but we did occasionally see black bears in my parents' back yard. And my parents don't live in the middle of nowhere, but the town where I grew up is sort of at the edge of the Seattle metropolitan area suburbs. The Black bears are pretty small (Only a little bigger than a large dog), and they are terrified of people. We would only see them at night. But they are a potential threat for small dogs and cats that stay outside, though this is limited because they are pretty strictly herbivores. As for American brown bears (like Grizzlies), they theoretically live in the mountains in Washington, but I have only ever seen one in the wild from very far away at Glacier National Park in Montana. As for how likely it was for an Anglo-Saxon to see one...it depends on how much they encroached on their habitat. Bears are happy scavengers, generally. I wouldn't be surprised if bears would sometimes wander into settlements to root through the trash heaps. Bears are not ambush predators, so they wouldn't be as keen on hiding. Unlike, for example, the cougar, or mountain lion, that lives in the Northwest of North America. These are there and are very dangerous if you happen to be very unlucky and put yourself in a bad situation, but almost nobody ever sees them and almost nobody is ever attacked by them. In fact, I never even met a person who had seen one. Partly because they live in uninhabited areas, partly because they are solitary and have large hunting ranges (so the population isn't dense), and partly because they are ambush predators, so you almost certainly wouldn't see one even if it was nearby.

[@Haru23a]

It's Twilight movie

[@Pinkerton000]

@uncletigger Sure, I understand that. But if people hunted them to extinction, then that must imply that people saw them sometimes...lol

[@87FordMudder]

I grew up in a very rural part of western Canada, and spent a lot of time working and exploring on crown land, so bear encounters were regular, though not frequent.

[@d.2605]

Interesting topic. Audio sounds fine.

[@inakik97]

I love linguistics and your videos

[@4nna5]

Surprised at the amount of Americans in the comments, thought it would mainly be us Brits! Always love your videos man

[@4nna5]

@Taiwanlightyou're right, should we trust them?

[@vineshgujral686]

Live in America, in a major metropolitan area. See quite a few wild bears, sometimes in the woods, but sometimes in the middle of suburbs. You sometimes see local incidents of bears in people's backyards and/or trash, bears hanging in parks downtown and needing to be captured. Bears are pretty common over here in Yankistan.

[@CudjoFox]

I live in the Boston area of Massachusetts. Black bears are uncommon near the city, but occasionally one wanders in and has to be relocated. In the more rural parts of New England, black bears are much more widespread, and I have seen them on occasion. (We don't have brown or grizzly bears in New England.) I remember one incident in New Hampshire vividly where a black bear wandered casually across the highway right in front of the car that my friend was driving. (I was glad that my friend and I were inside the car!)

[@chrispbeats]

Audio sounds good, mate. Use mono, it works well for speech. On that note, doubling a mono track into a left right pair with the same audio track will only increase the volume slightly and it will remain mono. The only thing you *could* need a stereo recording for is the wildlife and nature sounds for ambience but you wouldn’t be able to double a mono to make it stereo, if that makes sense.