The bear learned what the rest of us already knew

Babble on.

I read stories like this, and all that comes to mind, having been raised mostly by a woman I outweighed at age twelve: what the hell was the bear thinking?

Angiyou was with her seven-year-old son and two other young boys when they came across the [polar] bear. She says all she could think of was stopping the animal.

"'My boy, my boy, my boy is going to be killed, nothing I can do,'" she recalls thinking at the time. "But I started yelling and after that I felt better when he was far, the boy was far."

The bear clawed at Angiyou and climbed on top of her, but retreated after gun shots were fired. The bear was eventually tracked down and killed.

The children were unharmed.

The story of David and Goliath would have been almost unremarkable if David had been a mom. Because that's what moms do.

Mothers protect children, even going so far as to die doing it.

...Cindy Parolin and three of her four children, were trail riding on horseback near Princeton, British Columbia, when their horses became increasingly nervous. A mountain lion suddenly jumped from a bush at the 6-year-old son. The boy was thrown from his horse and was attacked by the mountain lion. The mother leapt from her horse and clubbed the lion away from her son with a branch she was able to break off. Then she continued to fight the animal and instructed her two other children to drag the injured youngster to the safety of their car and then get help. Finally, her older son found an armed camper, Jim Manion, who was led to the scene. He found Cindy still fighting more than an hour later. Much of her upper torso had been consumed. It was amazing she was still alive. She asked if her children were OK, and when Jim said yes, she said in a half-whisper, "I am dying now," and she collapsed.

When it comes to moms and kids the normal guidelines for predicting who's going to win a fight go out the window. Lydia Angiyou fought a polar bear and won. Cindy Parolin fought a cougar and won - that she died doesn't detract one bit from the fact that she saved her children (as recognized here).

Mothers are supernatural creatures. The bear never stood a chance.

Babble off.