Payton

Right from the outset, I have to admit this photo was not taken in the wild.  This is Payton – one of Memphis Zoo’s star attractions.  If I’d been this close without the protective perspex before me, chances are I wouldn’t “be”.  And trust me, I know.  In my kayak, around Svalbard, I’ve been close enough to understand that I was next on the degustation menu of a surly polar bear.

I’ve seen them traverse steep slopes of collapsing snow, and watched them swim from one side of a bay to another, but never really understood why they are considered a sea mammal.  They do all their hunting on land.  They raise their cubs on land.  And really, how graceful can a 500kg quadruped be in the water?

The answer is revealed as I watch.  Payton dives for the frozen blocks of fish thrown to him (from a safe distance). He moves quickly, effortlessly changing direction through the water.  Eyes firmly fixed on his prize, his neck lunges in the direction of the falling food.  With a graceful kick of his front leg, and then the back, he weightlessly shifts his momentum in order to follow it down.

Wow!  There is no boiling water.  There is no sudden exhalation.  There is only the calm and poise I would expect to see of this enormous carnivore...on land.  Almost out loud, I have the “A-ha!” moment that comes with sudden revelation.  Why couldn’t the marine biologists have it explained it this way in the first place?