Brian Maxedon, age 8, of Visalia, California, for his question:

Are polar bears dangerous?

Animals who eat meat must fight for a living. This tends to make them fierce fellows. The mighty polar bear lives mostly on meat and when hungry he has no mercy on the seals or on the other animals he needs for dinner. In the far frozen north, he does not meet many human beings. In the hungry season, he may mistake a man for a meal. Then indeed the polar bear may be a very dangerous enemy.

Sometimes an Eskimo manages to kill a polar bear. Friends and relatives treat the brave hunter as a hero    for the mighty bear fights fiercely for his life. The bear also is clever and the hunter must outsmart him. In a fair fight, without weapons, a man would not have a chance. The bear is a giant, nine feet long. He weighs as much as five men. He has mighty muscles and his feet are armed with long deadly claws. When threatened or wounded, the polar bear is very dangerous to man. Sometimes he even hunts down a lone human traveler in the frozen north.

All this, sounds very bad. But let's be fair. The polar bear is a fierce hunter  and so is man. The polar bear hunts only because he needs meaty food. Men aften hunt him down just to get his white coat as a souvenir    and to brag about their bravery. Besides, human hunters never dare hunt the polar bear without guns or other cunning weapons. The bear uses only his own muscles and claws. And as a rule, he fights only to defend himself. The mother polar bear also fights to defend her cubs.

True, once in a great while the shaggy giant hunts down and eats a person. But this is understandable. There are not many people up there around the icy shores of the Arctic. He knows the seals and walruses, the foxes and the tasty fishes that share his Arctic world. But this may be the first man he has ever seen. He is not afraid because he doesn't know about guns and weapons. Besides, the man looks somewhat like a plump furry seal    and the big bear is very, very hungry. So once in a while a polar bear kills a man. But every year men kill hundreds of polar bears.

In summer, the big white bear often leaves the icy shores and wanders inland. For about two months, the Arctic country is carpeted with flowers and grasses. He feasts on a diet of greenery  ¬and this pleasant life seems to change his character. He becomes gentle and hardly notices the meaty animals around him. As usual, he is not