A man and three polar bears - a photo that impresses many users, as he feeds the adult bear from his hand while one of the cubs clings to his leg.

Polar bears are impressive predators. A photo from the 1970s is currently being shared on social media platforms as a sharepic:

Screenshot by mimikama.org
Screenshot by mimikama.org

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The fact check

The photo is real. Taken in the 1970s near the Siberian town of Cape Schmidt, off the coast of the Chukchi Sea, it shows a man named Nikolai Machulyak.

Snopes colleagues report, Machulyak was something of a local celebrity because of his relationship with polar bears. In August 1977, V. Filimonov published an article about it entitled “ДРУЖБЫ ТВОЕЙ ПРОШУ” – which translates as “I ask for your friendship” – in the Russian travel magazine “Вокруг света” ( “Around the World” ).

Machulyak explains that a hunter killed a polar bear in December 1974, leaving behind a young bear. For five months he fed the bear and named her Masha. In the spring of 1975 Masha disappeared, but almost a year later the two met again.

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The article also contains diary entries from Machulyak, which describe how he repeatedly encountered the she-bear and also fed it with seal meat from his hand.

Later he also became friends with a larger bear and her cub. He called this bear “Marya Mikhailovna”.

But even though Machulyak repeatedly met bears, he emphasized that a wild animal is a wild animal. Before each encounter he told Masha and every other bear:

“I ask for your friendship. Here's my hand in advance - palm up, it's not a gun, it's a can of condensed milk that you love. You are a beautiful, strong and lovable animal to me. I want to have a friend in you, and in friendship I will not be more faithful.”

Conclusion:

The photo is real and was taken in the 1970s.

It shows Nikolai Machulyak feeding a polar bear from his hand. The photo is part of a whole series and was opened as an article in both the travel magazine “Around the World” and the Russian Geographical Society.

But even though Machulyak maintained a kind of friendship with these impressive animals, he was always attentive and careful in his encounters.

Other sources: Russian Geographical Society , Correctiv

You might also be interested in: “A moving moment” – The photo of these polar bears is not a fake


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )