During the heat of summer, we often like to go barefoot.  Of course, bears have bare feet all year-long, so we thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the “bare bear feet” we’ve seen at ABR in recent years.  People are always intrigued by bears’ tootsies, as they have such a resemblance to human feet and hands.  Take a look at this photo, showing the hind feet of a bear being prepared for release.  Doesn’t it look like our own feet?  Except, of course for the long toenails and the fur around the edges, they looks human. 

Here’s another photo of a very small cub that came to ABR a few years ago.  Here you can see both front and back paws – the front paws have an eerie resemblance to our human hands, and the back paws, as we said above, are reminiscent of our feet.  Of course, it is this foot structure, so similar to our own, that enables bears to stand and walk upright, as we do.