Bears are inelegant killers partly because they're omnivores. They don't regularly kill to eat, and evolution has equipped them accordingly. They feed on nuts, berries, fruit, grasses. They scavenge trash and carrion. A cougar, by contrast, is a true carnivore. It lives by the flesh of animals it kills, and thus it kills efficiently.
Cougars stalk, well hidden, and then pounce from behind and deliver a "killing bite" to the back of the neck.
Their molars close like scissors blades, cutting flesh cleanly.
A bear's mouth evolved for crushing and grinding, with flat molar surfaces and jaws that move side to side as well as up and down.
Wounds made by bears' teeth are cruder.#6389•
The recommended response to a bluff is to be as nonthreatening as you can. Back away slowly. Talk to the animal in a calm voice. You'll probably be fine—even if the bear is a sow with cubs. For all British Columbia's bears and bear encounters, and for all the hype you hear about the danger posed by protective mother bears, the province has seen only one fatal attack of that nature.
(It was a grizzly.
No black bear sow with cubs has ever killed a person in British Columbia.)#6392•
With a predatory attack, the survival strategy is the opposite. The rare predatory bear attack begins quietly, with focused intent. Counter to common assumption, it's more often a black bear than a grizzly. (Though with both species, predatory attacks are rare.) The bear may be following at a distance, circling around, disappearing and reappearing.
If a bear starts to charge with its ears laid flat, you're the one who needs to look scary.
Open your jacket to make yourself look larger.
If you're in a group, get together and yell, so you look like one big, loud creature.
"Try to give the message, 'I am not going to give up without a fight.' " Aaron says.
"Stomp your feet, throw rocks."#6388•
The same holds true for an attacking cougar. Take inspiration from the Kansas pioneer N. C. Fancher, who in the spring of 1871 noticed a cougar eyeing him as he stood inspecting a buffalo skeleton. As recounted in Pioneer History of Kansas, Fancher shoved his feet inside the dead buffalo's horns, banged its femurs over his head while jumping up and down, and "bellowed desperately." The cougar, and really who wouldn't, took off.
And if the animal goes ahead and attacks anyway? "Do whatever you can to fight back," Aaron says. If it's a bear, go for the face. Aaron points in the direction of his nose, a red chapped thing. "Don't play dead." If you play dead at that point, there's a good chance you shortly won't be playing.#6390•
The worst thing you can do in any situation where a predator seems bent on attack is to turn and run. This is especially true with a carnivorous hunter like a cougar, because running (or mountain-biking) away triggers the predator-prey response. It's like a switch, and once it's flipped on, it stays on for a surprisingly long time unless a kill is made.#6393•