Masha and the Bear

Goldilocks and the Three Bears
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"Goldilocks" and "The Three Bears" redirect here. For other uses, see Goldilocks (disambiguation) and The Three Bears (disambiguation).
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears"
The Three Bears - Project Gutenberg eText 17034.jpg
Illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1918
Author Robert Southey
Country United Kingdom
Genre(s) Fairy tale
Published in The Doctor
Publication type Essay and story collection
Publisher Longman, Rees, etc.
Media type Print
Publication date 1837
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a British 19th-century fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of a badly-behaved old woman who enters the forest home of three bachelor bears whilst they are away. She sits in their chairs, eats some of their porridge, and sleeps in one of their beds. When the bears return and discover her, she wakes up, jumps out of the window, and is never seen again. The second version replaced the old woman with a little girl named Goldilocks, and the third and by far most well-known version replaced the original bear trio with Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.

What was originally a frightening oral tale became a cozy family story with only a hint of menace. The story has elicited various interpretations and has been adapted to film, opera, and other media. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language.[1]

Contents
1 Plot
2 Origins
3 Later variations: Goldilocks
4 Interpretations
5 Literary elements
6 Adaptations
7 See also
8 References
8.1 Citations
8.2 Sources
9 External links
Plot
In Robert Southey's version of the tale, three anthropomorphic bears – "a little, small, wee bear, a middle-sized bear, and a great, huge bear" – live together in a house in the woods. Southey describes them as very good-natured, trusting, harmless, tidy, and hospitable. Each of these "bachelor" bears has his own porridge bowl, chair, and bed. One day they make porridge for breakfast, but it is too hot to eat, so they decide to take a walk in the woods while their porridge cools. An old woman approaches the bears' house. As she has been sent out by her family, she is a disgrace to them. She is impudent, bad, foul-mouthed, ugly, dirty, and a vagrant deserving of a stint in the House of Correction. She looks through a window, peeps through the keyhole, and lifts the latch. Assured that no one is home, she walks in. The old woman eats the Wee Bear's porridge, then settles into his chair and breaks it. Prowling about, she finds the bears' beds and falls asleep in Wee Bear's bed. The end of the tale is reached when the bears return. Wee Bear finds his empty bowl, his broken chair, and the old woman sleeping in his bed and cries, "Somebody has been lying in my bed, and here she is!" The old woman wakes, jumps out the window and is never seen again.

Origins

Robert Southey
The story was first recorded in narrative form by British writer and poet Robert Southey, and first published anonymously as "The Story of the Three Bears" in 1837 in a volume of his writings called The Doctor.[2] The same year Southey's tale was published, the story was versified by George Nicol[dubious – discuss], who acknowledged the anonymous author of The Doctor as "the great, original concocter" of the tale.[3][4] Southey was delighted with Nicol's effort to bring more exposure to the tale, concerned children might overlook it in The Doctor.[5] Nicol's version was illustrated with engravings by B. Hart (after "C.J."), and was reissued in 1848 with Southey identified as the story's author.[6]

The story of the three bears was in circulation before the publication of Southey's tale.[7] In 1813, for example, Southey was telling the story to friends, and in 1831 Eleanor Mure fashioned a handmade booklet about the three bears and the old woman for her nephew Horace Broke's birthday.[3] Southey and Mure differ in details. Southey's bears have porridge, but Mure's have milk;[3] Southey's old woman has no motive for entering the house, but Mure's old woman is piqued when her courtesy visit is rebuffed;[8] Southey's old woman runs away when discovered, but Mure's old woman is impaled on the steeple of St Paul's Cathedral.[9]

Folklorists Iona and Peter Opie point out in The Classic Fairy Tales (1999) that the tale has a "partial analogue" in "Snow White": the lost princess enters the dwarfs' house, tastes their food, and falls asleep in one of their beds. In a manner similar to the three bears, the dwarfs cry, "Someone's been sitting in my chair!", "Someone's been eating off my plate!", and "Someone's been sleeping in my bed!" The Opies also point to similarities in a Norwegian tale about a princess who takes refuge in a cave inhabited by three Russian princes dressed in bearskins. She eats their food and hides under a bed.[10]

In 1865, Charles Dickens referenced a similar tale in Our Mutual Friend, but in that story the house belongs to hobgoblins rather than bears. Dickens' reference however suggests a yet-to-be-discovered analogue or source.[11] Hunting rituals and ceremonies have been suggested and dismissed as possible origins.[12][13]

In 1894, "Scrapefoot", a tale with a fox as antagonist that bears striking similarities to Southey's story, was uncovered by the folklorist Joseph Jacobs and may predate Southey's version in the oral tradition. Some sources state that it was illustrator John D. Batten who in 1894 reported a variant of the tale at least 40 years old. In this version, the three bears live in a castle in the woods and are visited by a fox called Scrapefoot who drinks their milk, sits in their chairs, and rests in their beds.[3] This version belongs to the early Fox and Bear tale-cycle.[14] Southey possibly heard "Scrapefoot", and confused its "vixen" with a synonym for an unpleasant malicious old woman. Some maintain however that the story as well as the old woman originated with Southey.[2]

Southey most likely learned the tale as a child from his uncle William Tyler. Uncle Tyler may have told a version with a vixen (female fox) as the intruder, and then Southey may have later confused "vixen" with another common meaning of "a crafty old woman".[3] P. M. Zall writes in "The Gothic Voice of Father Bear" (1974) that "it was no trick for Southey, a consummate technician, to recreate the improvisational tone of an Uncle William through rhythmical reiteration, artful alliteration ('they walked into the woods, while'), even bardic interpolation ('She could not have been a good, honest Old Woman')".[15] Ultimately, it is uncertain where Southey or his uncle learned the tale.

"Scrapefoot" illustration by John D. Batten
Later variations: Goldilocks
Twelve years after the publication of Southey's tale, Joseph Cundall transformed the antagonist from an ugly old woman to a pretty little girl in his Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children. He explained his reasons for doing so in a dedicatory letter to his children, dated November 1849, which was inserted at the beginning of the book:

The "Story of the Three Bears" is a very old Nursery Tale, but it was never so well told as by the great poet Southey, whose version I have (with permission) given you, only I have made the intruder a little girl instead of an old woman. This I did because I found that the tale is better known with Silver-Hair, and because there are so many other stories of old women.[10]

Once the little girl entered the tale, she remained – suggesting children prefer an attractive child in the story rather than an ugly old woman.[5] The juvenile antagonist saw a succession of names:[16] Silver Hair in the pantomime Harlequin and The Three Bears; or, Little Silver Hair and the Fairies by J. B. Buckstone (1853); Silver-Locks in Aunt Mavor's Nursery Tales (1858); Silverhair in George MacDonald's "The Golden Key" (1867); Golden Hair in Aunt Friendly's Nursery Book (ca. 1868);[10] Silver-Hair and Goldenlocks at various times; Little Golden-Hair (1889);[14] and finally Goldilocks in Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes (1904).[10] Tatar credits Flora Annie Steel with naming the child (1918).[2]

three bears overlook a bed as a scared girl leaps from the bed
Goldilocks caught in Baby Bear's bed – by Leonard Leslie Brooke
Goldilocks's fate varies in the many retellings: in some versions, she runs into the forest, in some she is almost eaten by the bears but her mother rescues her, in some she vows to be a good child, and in some she returns home. Whatever her fate, Goldilocks fares better than Southey's vagrant old woman who, in his opinion, deserved a stint in the House of Correction, and far better than Miss Mure's old woman who is impaled upon a steeple in St Paul's church-yard.[17]

Southey's all-male ursine trio has not been left untouched over the years. The group was re-cast as Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, but the date of this change is disputed. Tatar indicates it occurred by 1852,[17] while Katherine Briggs suggests the event occurred in 1878 with Mother Goose's Fairy Tales published by Routledge.[14][16] With the publication of the tale by "Aunt Fanny" in 1852, the bears became a family in the illustrations to the tale but remained three bachelor bears in the text.

In Dulcken's version of 1858, the two larger bears are brother and sister, and friends to the little bear. This arrangement represents the evolution of the ursine trio from the traditional three male bears to a family of father, mother, and child.[18] In a publication ca. 1860, the bears have become a family at last in both text and illustrations: "the old papa bear, the mama bear, and the little boy bear".[19] In a Routledge publication c 1867, Papa Bear is called Rough Bruin, Mama Bear is Mammy Muff, and Baby Bear is called Tiny. Inexplicably, the illustrations depict the three as male bears.[20]

In publications subsequent to Aunt Fanny's of 1852, Victorian nicety required editors to routinely and silently alter Southey's "[T]here she sate till the bottom of the chair came out, and down came her's, plump upon the ground" to read "and down she came", omitting any reference to the human bottom. The cumulative effect of the several changes to the tale since its original publication was to transform a fearsome oral tale into a cozy family story with an unrealised hint of menace.[16]

Interpretations
Maria Tatar, in The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales (2002), notes that Southey's tale is sometimes viewed as a cautionary tale that imparts a lesson about the hazards of wandering off and exploring unknown territory. Like "The Tale of the Three Little Pigs", the story uses repetitive formulas to engage the child's attention and to reinforce the point about safety and shelter.[17] Tatar points out that the tale is typically framed today as a discovery of what is "just right", but for earlier generations, it was a tale about an intruder who could not control herself when encountering the possessions of others.[21]

Illustration by John Batten, 1890
In The Uses of Enchantment (1976), the child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim describes Goldilocks as "poor, beautiful, and charming", and notes that the story does not describe her positively except for her hair.[22] Bettelheim mainly discussed the tale in terms of Goldilocks' struggle to move past Oedipal issues to confront adolescent identity problems.[23]

In Bettelheim's view, the tale fails to encourage children "to pursue the hard labor of solving, one at a time, the problems which growing up presents", and does not end as fairy tales should with the "promise of future happiness awaiting those who have mastered their Oedipal situation as a child". He believes the tale is an escapist one that thwarts the child reading it from gaining emotional maturity.

Tatar criticises Bettelheim's views: "[His] reading is perhaps too invested in instrumentalizing fairy tales, that is, in turning them into vehicles that convey messages and set forth behavioral models for the child. While the story may not solve oedipal issues or sibling rivalry as Bettelheim believes "Cinderella" does, it suggests the importance of respecting property and the consequences of just 'trying out' things that do not belong to you."[17]

Elms suggests Bettelheim may have missed the anal aspect of the tale that would make it helpful to the child's personality development.[22] In Handbook of Psychobiography Elms describes Southey's tale not as one of Bettelheimian post-Oedipal ego development but as one of Freudian pre-Oedipal anality.[23] He believes the story appeals chiefly to preschoolers who are engaged in "cleanliness training, maintaining environmental and behavioral order, and distress about disruption of order". His own experience and his observation of others lead him to believe children align themselves with the tidy, organised ursine protagonists rather than the unruly, delinquent human antagonist. In Elms's view, the anality of "The Story of the Three Bears" can be traced directly to Robert Southey's fastidious, dirt-obsessed aunt who raised him and passed her obsession to him in a milder form.[23]

Literary elements
The story makes extensive use of the literary rule of three, featuring three chairs, three bowls of porridge, three beds, and the three title characters who live in the house. There are also three sequences of the bears discovering in turn that someone has been eating from their porridge, sitting in their chairs, and finally, lying in their beds, at which point is the climax of Goldilocks being discovered. This follows three earlier sequences of Goldilocks trying the bowls of porridge, chairs, and beds successively, each time finding the third "just right". Author Christopher Booker characterises this as the "dialectical three", where "the first is wrong in one way, the second in another or opposite way, and only the third, in the middle, is just right". Booker continues: "This idea that the way forward lies in finding an exact middle path between opposites is of extraordinary importance in storytelling".[24] This concept has spread across many other disciplines, particularly developmental psychology, biology, economics and engineering where it is called the "Goldilocks principle". In planetary astronomy, a planet orbiting its sun at just the right distance for liquid water to exist on its surface, neither too hot nor too cold, is referred to as being in the 'Goldilocks Zone'.

Adaptations
Songwriter Bobby Troup's hipster interpretation titled "The Three Bears", first recorded by Page Cavanaugh in 1946, is often erroneously credited to "anonymous" and re-titled "Three Bears Rap", "Three Bears with a Beat", etc.
Kurt Schwertsik's 35-minute opera Roald Dahl's Goldilocks premiered in 1997 at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The opera's setting is the Forest Assizes where Baby Bear stands accused of assaulting Miss Goldie Locks. The tables are turned when the defence limns the trauma suffered by the bears at the hands of that "brazen little crook", Goldilocks.[25]
In Rooster Teeth Productions RWBY, Yang Xiao Long is a carefree, reckless yellow-haired girl.[26] She is a "rule-breaker" who likes teddy bears. She is an allusion to Goldilocks which is reflected in her name, translated from Chinese as "sun", referring to the colour yellow.[27] Also, in her trailer, Yang confronts Hei "Junior" Xiong, whose name is Chinese for "black bear." Combining this with his nickname, he alludes to the Baby Bear.
The TV show Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child featured an adaption of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" in a Jamaican setting which featured the voices of Raven-Symoné as Goldilocks, Tone Loc as Desmond Bear, Alfre Woodard as Winsone Bear, and David Alan Grier as Dudley Bear.
In an episode of Sesame Street, a reversed version of the story titled "Baby Bear and the Three Goldilocks" was told (and written) by Telly and Elmo.
The television show Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater Kittylocks and the Three Bears is an adaptation of the story.
"Goldilocks Eats Grits" has the bears living in a cave in Georgia in the United States.[28]
A commercial for the 2005 Hummer portrayed the Three Bears returning from a family trip to their very upscale home to discover all the elements of the traditional story. They race to their garage to check on the status of the family Hummers. Mama Bear and Papa Bear are relieved that both vehicles are still in place, but Baby Bear is distraught to find his missing as the camera cuts away to Goldilocks (in this version portrayed by a very attractive young woman) rakishly smiling as she makes her getaway in Baby Bear's Hummer down a scenic mountain road.
In 2014, MC Frontalot released a hip-hop rendition of the story as part of the album, Question Bedtime, in which the narrator warns the three bears of a ruthless woman called Gold Locks who hunts and eats bear cubs. An official music video was uploaded in 2015.[29]
In 2016, professional wrestler Bray Wyatt read a dark version to Edge and Christian.[30]
Disney Junior's Goldie & Bear premiered in 2016. The tale is set after the events of the story where Goldilocks (voiced by Natalie Lander) and Jack Bear (voiced by Georgie Kidder) eventually became best friends.
See also
Little Red Riding Hood
References
Citations
Elms 1977, p. 257
Tatar 2002, p. 245
Opie 1992, p. 199
Ober 1981, p. 47
Curry 1921, p. 65
Ober 1981, p. 48
Dorson 2001, p. 94
Ober 1981, pp. 2,10
Opie 1992, pp. 199–200
Opie 1992, p. 200
Ober 1981, p. xii
Ober 1981, p. x
Elms 1977, p. 259
Briggs 2002, pp. 128–129
Quoted in: Ober 1981, p. ix
Seal 2001, p. 91
Tatar 2002, p. 246
Ober 1981, p. 142
Ober 1981, p. 178
Ober 1981, p. 190
Tatar 2002, p. 251
Elms 1977, p. 264
Schultz 2005, p. 93
Booker 2005, pp. 229–32
Roald Dahl's Goldilocks
Webb, Charles (1 June 2013). "EXCLUSIVE: Rooster Teeth's 'RWBY' Yellow Trailer". MTV. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
Rush, Amanda (12 July 2013). "FEATURE: Inside Rooster Teeth's "RWBY"". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
Friedman, Amy; Johnson, Meredith (25 January 2015). "Goldilocks Eats Grits". Universal Uclick. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
MC Frontalot (23 September 2014), MC Frontalot - Gold Locks (ft. Jean Grae) [OFFICIAL VIDEO], retrieved 11 March 2019
"Bray Wyatt tells a twisted fairy tale on the Edge & Christian Show, only on WWE Network". 2 May 2016. Bray Wyatt puts a diabolical spin on 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' on The Edge & Christian Show
Sources
The Seven Basic Plots. Booker, Christopher (2005). "The Rule of Three". The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-5209-4.
Briggs, Katherine Mary (2002) [1977]. British Folk Tales and Legends. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28602-6.
"Coronet: Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Internet Archive. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
Curry, Charles Madison (1921). Children's Literature. Rand McNally & Company.
"Disney: Goldilocks and the Three Bears". The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
Dorson, Richard Mercer (2001) [1968]. The British Folklorists. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-20426-7.
Elms, Alan C. (July–September 1977). ""The Three Bears": Four Interpretations". The Journal of American Folklore. 90 (357). JSTOR 539519.
"MGM: Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Retrieved 12 November 2010.
Ober, Warren U. (1981). The Story of the Three Bears. Scholars Facsimiles & Reprints. ISBN 0-8201-1362-X.
Opie, Iona; Opie, Peter (1992) [1974]. The Classic Fairy Tales. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211559-6.
"Roald Dahl's Goldilocks (1997)". Retrieved 3 January 2009.
Schultz, William Todd (2005). Handbook of Psychobiography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516827-5.
Seal, Graham (2001). Encyclopedia of Folk Heroes. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-216-9.
Tatar, Maria (2002). The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05163-3.

Bear
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about the carnivoran mammals. For other uses, see Bear (disambiguation).
Bears
Temporal range: 38–0 Ma
PreЄЄOSDCPTJKPgN
Late Eocene – Recent
2010-kodiak-bear-1.jpg
Brown bear in Alaska
Scientific classificatione
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Infraorder: Arctoidea
Family: Ursidae
G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Subfamilies
daggerAmphicynodontinae
daggerHemicyoninae
daggerUrsavinae
daggerAgriotheriinae
Ailuropodinae
Tremarctinae
Ursinae

Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous with varied diets. With the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They may be diurnal or nocturnal and have an excellent sense of smell. Despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they are adept runners, climbers, and swimmers. Bears use shelters, such as caves and logs, as their dens; most species occupy their dens during the winter for a long period of hibernation, up to 100 days.

Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur; they have been used for bear-baiting and other forms of entertainment, such as being made to dance. With their powerful physical presence, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, and other cultural aspects of various human societies. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats and illegal trade in bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Taxonomy
2.1 Evolution
2.2 Phylogeny
3 Physical characteristics
3.1 Size
3.2 Morphology
4 Distribution and habitat
5 Behaviour and life history
5.1 Feeding
5.2 Communication
5.3 Reproduction and development
5.4 Hibernation
5.5 Mortality
6 Relationship with humans
6.1 Conservation
6.2 Attacks
6.3 Entertainment, hunting, food and folk medicine
6.4 Literature, art and symbolism
6.5 Organizations
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
9.1 Bibliography
10 Further reading
11 External links
Etymology
The English word "bear" comes from Old English bera and belongs to a family of names for the bear in Germanic languages, such as Swedish björn, also used as a first name. This form is conventionally said to be related to a Proto-Indo-European word for "brown", so that "bear" would mean "the brown one".[1][2] However, Ringe notes that while this etymology is semantically plausible, a word meaning "brown" of this form cannot be found in Proto-Indo-European. He suggests instead that "bear" is from the Proto-Indo-European word *ǵʰwḗr- ~ *ǵʰwér "wild animal".[3] This terminology for the animal originated as a taboo avoidance term: proto-Germanic tribes replaced their original word for bear—arkto—with this euphemistic expression out of fear that speaking the animal's true name might cause it to appear.[4][5] According to author Ralph Keyes, this is the oldest known euphemism.[6]

Bear taxon names such as Arctoidea and Helarctos come from the ancient Greek word ἄρκτος (arktos), meaning bear,[7] as do the names "arctic" and "antarctic", from the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", prominent in the northern sky.[8]

Bear taxon names such as Ursidae and Ursus come from Latin Ursus/Ursa, he-bear/she-bear.[8] The female first name "Ursula", originally derived from a Christian saint's name, means "little she-bear" (diminutive of Latin ursa). In Switzerland, the male first name "Urs" is especially popular, while the name of the canton and city of Bern is derived from Bär, German for bear. The Germanic name Bernard (including Bernhardt and similar forms) means "bear-brave", "bear-hardy", or "bold bear".[9][10] The Old English name Beowulf is a kenning, "bee-wolf", for bear, in turn meaning a brave warrior.[11]

Taxonomy
See also: List of bears
The family Ursidae is one of nine families in the suborder Caniformia, or "doglike" carnivorans, within the order Carnivora. Bears' closest living relatives are the pinnipeds, canids, and musteloids.[12] Modern bears comprise eight species in three subfamilies: Ailuropodinae (monotypic with the giant panda), Tremarctinae (monotypic with the spectacled bear), and Ursinae (containing six species divided into one to three genera, depending on the authority). Nuclear chromosome analysis show that the karyotype of the six ursine bears is nearly identical, with each having 74 chromosomes, whereas the giant panda has 42 chromosomes and the spectacled bear 52. These smaller numbers can be explained by the fusing of some chromosomes, and the banding patterns on these match those of the ursine species, but differ from those of procyonids, which supports the inclusion of these two species in Ursidae rather than in Procyonidae, where they had been placed by some earlier authorities.[13]

Evolution

Plithocyon armagnacensis skull, a member of the extinct subfamily Hemicyoninae from the Miocene
The earliest members of Ursidae belong to the extinct subfamily Amphicynodontinae, including Parictis (late Eocene to early middle Miocene, 38–18 Mya) and the slightly younger Allocyon (early Oligocene, 34–30 Mya), both from North America. These animals looked very different from today's bears, being small and raccoon-like in overall appearance, with diets perhaps more similar to that of a badger. Parictis does not appear in Eurasia and Africa until the Miocene.[14] It is unclear whether late-Eocene ursids were also present in Eurasia, although faunal exchange across the Bering land bridge may have been possible during a major sea level low stand as early as the late Eocene (about 37 Mya) and continuing into the early Oligocene.[15] European genera morphologically very similar to Allocyon, and to the much younger American Kolponomos (about 18 Mya),[16] are known from the Oligocene, including Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon.[15] There has been various morphological evidence linking amphicynodontines with pinnipeds, as both groups were semi-aquatic, otter-like mammals.[17][18][19] In addition to the support of the pinniped–amphicynodontine clade, other morphological and some molecular evidence supports bears being the closet living relatives to pinnipeds.[20][21][22][18][23][18][19]

Life restoration of Arctotherium bonariense
The raccoon-sized, dog-like Cephalogale is the oldest-known member of the subfamily Hemicyoninae, which first appeared during the middle Oligocene in Eurasia about 30 Mya.[15] The subfamily includes the younger genera Phoberocyon (20–15 Mya), and Plithocyon (15–7 Mya). A Cephalogale-like species gave rise to the genus Ursavus during the early Oligocene (30–28 Mya); this genus proliferated into many species in Asia and is ancestral to all living bears. Species of Ursavus subsequently entered North America, together with Amphicynodon and Cephalogale, during the early Miocene (21–18 Mya). Members of the living lineages of bears diverged from Ursavus between 15 and 20 Mya,[24][25] likely via the species Ursavus elmensis. Based on genetic and morphological data, the Ailuropodinae (pandas) were the first to diverge from other living bears about 19 Mya, although no fossils of this group have been found before about 5 Mya.[26]

The New World short-faced bears (Tremarctinae) differentiated from Ursinae following a dispersal event into North America during the mid-Miocene (about 13 Mya).[26] They invaded South America (≈2.5 or 1.2 Ma) following formation of the Isthmus of Panama.[27] Their earliest fossil representative is Plionarctos in North America (~ 10–2 Ma). This genus is probably the direct ancestor to the North American short-faced bears (genus Arctodus), the South American short-faced bears (Arctotherium), and the spectacled bears, Tremarctos, represented by both an extinct North American species (T. floridanus), and the lone surviving representative of the Tremarctinae, the South American spectacled bear (T. ornatus).[15]

Fossil of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), a relative of the brown bear and polar bear from the Pleistocene epoch in Europe
The subfamily Ursinae experienced a dramatic proliferation of taxa about 5.3–4.5 Mya, coincident with major environmental changes; the first members of the genus Ursus appeared around this time.[26] The sloth bear is a modern survivor of one of the earliest lineages to diverge during this radiation event (5.3 Mya); it took on its peculiar morphology, related to its diet of termites and ants, no later than by the early Pleistocene. By 3–4 Mya, the species Ursus minimus appears in the fossil record of Europe; apart from its size, it was nearly identical to today's Asian black bear. It is likely ancestral to all bears within Ursinae, perhaps aside from the sloth bear. Two lineages evolved from U. minimus: the black bears (including the sun bear, the Asian black bear, and the American black bear); and the brown bears (which includes the polar bear). Modern brown bears evolved from U. minimus via Ursus etruscus, which itself is ancestral to the extinct Pleistocene cave bear. Species of Ursinae have migrated repeatedly into North America from Eurasia as early as 4 Mya during the early Pliocene.[28][29] The polar bear is the most recently evolved species and descended from a population of brown bears that became isolated in northern latitudes by glaciation 400,000 years ago.[30]

Phylogeny
The bears form a clade within the Carnivora. The cladogram is based on molecular phylogeny of six genes in Flynn, 2005.[31]

Carnivora

 
Feliformia Ocelot

 
Caniformia

 
Canidae African golden wolf

 
Arctoidea

 
†Hemicyonidae Hemicyon sansaniensis

 
 
Ursidae Brown bear

 
 
 
 
Pinnipedia Common seal

 
Musteloidea
 
Ailuridae Red panda

 
 
Procyonidae Common raccoon

 
 
Mustelidae Steppe polecat

 
 
 
 
 
 
Note that although they are called "bears" in some languages, red pandas and raccoons and their close relatives are not bears, but rather musteloids.[31]

There are two phylogenetic hypotheses on the relationships among extant and fossil bear species. One is all species of bears are classified in seven subfamilies as adopted here and related articles: Amphicynodontinae, Hemicyoninae, Ursavinae, Agriotheriinae, Ailuropodinae, Tremarctinae, and Ursinae.[32][33][34][35] Below is a cladogram of the subfamilies of bears after McLellan and Reiner (1992)[32] and Qiu et a. (2014):[35]

Ursidae
 
daggerAmphicynodontinae Kolponomos newportensis .jpg

 
 
 
daggerHemicyoninae Hemicyon sansaniensis

 
 
 
daggerUrsavinae

 
 
 
daggerAgriotheriinae

 
 
 
Ailuropodinae Recherches pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des mammifères (Pl. 50) (white background).jpg

 
 
 
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Eroticism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Italian erotic postcard, 1900
Eroticism (from the Greek ἔρως, eros—"desire") is a quality that causes sexual feelings,[1] as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculpture, photography, drama, film, music, or literature. It may also be found in advertising. The term may also refer to a state of sexual arousal[1] or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts.

As French novelist Honoré de Balzac stated, eroticism is dependent not just upon an individual's sexual morality, but also the culture and time in which an individual resides.[2][3][4]

Contents
1 Definitions
2 Biological evolution
3 Psychoanalytical approach
4 French philosophy
5 Non-heterosexual
6 See also
7 References
Definitions
Because the nature of what is erotic is fluid,[5] early definitions of the term attempted to conceive eroticism as some form of sensual or romantic love or as the human sex drive (libido); for example, the Encyclopédie of 1755 states that the erotic "is an epithet which is applied to everything with a connection to the love of the sexes; one employs it particularly to characterize...a dissoluteness, an excess".[6]

Because eroticism is wholly dependent on the viewer's culture and personal tastes pertaining to what, exactly, defines the erotic,[7][8] critics have often[how often?] confused eroticism with pornography, with the anti-pornography activist Andrea Dworkin saying, "Erotica is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer."[9] This confusion, as Lynn Hunt writes, "demonstrate the difficulty of drawing… a clear generic demarcation between the erotic and the pornographic": indeed arguably "the history of the separation of pornography from eroticism… remains to be written".[10]

Biological evolution
Whereas traditionally eroticism has been dealt with in relation to culture and its pornographic outcomes

Humour
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Humor)
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For other uses, see Humour (disambiguation).
"Hilarity" and "Hilarious" redirect here. For the US Navy ship, see USS Hilarity (AM-241). For the stand-up special by Louis C.K., see Hilarious (film). For the Roman Catholic Pope Saint Hilarius, see Pope Hilarius.
"Funny" redirects here. For the 2015 Chase & Status song, see Funny (song).

From top-left to bottom-right or from top to bottom (mobile): various people laughing from Afghanistan, Tibet, Brazil, and Malaysia
Humour (British English), also spelt as humor (American English; see spelling differences), is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body fluid"), controlled human health and emotion.

People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour—be amused, smile or laugh at something funny (such as a pun or joke)—and thus are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour inducing it to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy puppet shows or the Tom and Jerry cartoons, whose physical nature makes it accessible to them. By contrast, more sophisticated forms of humour such as satire require an understanding of its social meaning and context, and thus tend to appeal to a more mature audience.

Furry fandom
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Some furry fans create and wear costumes called "fursuits" depicting their characters
The furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.[1][2][3] Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes. The term "furry fandom" is also used to refer to the community of people who gather on the internet and at furry conventions.[4]

Contents
1 History
2 Inspiration
3 Activities
3.1 Crafts
3.2 Role-playing
3.3 Conventions
3.4 Websites and online communities
4 Furry lifestylers
5 Sexual aspects
6 Public perception and media coverage
7 Sociological aspects
8 See also
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
History
According to fandom historian Fred Patten, the concept of furry originated at a science fiction convention in 1980,[5] when a character drawing from Steve Gallacci's Albedo Anthropomorphics started a discussion of anthropomorphic characters in science fiction novels. This led to the formation of a discussion group that met at science fiction conventions and comics conventions.

The specific term furry fandom was being used in fanzines as early as 1983, and had become the standard name for the genre by the mid-1990s, when it was defined as "the organized appreciation and dissemination of art and prose regarding 'Furries', or fictional mammalian anthropomorphic characters".[6] However, fans consider the origins of furry fandom to be much earlier, with fictional works such as Kimba, The White Lion released in 1965, Richard Adams' novel Watership Down, published in 1972 (and its 1978 film adaptation), as well as Disney's Robin Hood as oft-cited examples.[5] Internet newsgroup discussion in the 1990s created some separation between fans of "funny animal" characters and furry characters, meant to avoid the baggage that was associated with the term "furry".[7]

During the 1980s, furry fans began to publish fanzines, developing a diverse social group that eventually began to schedule social gatherings. By 1989, there was sufficient interest to stage the first furry convention.[8] It was called Confurence 0, and was held at the Holiday Inn Bristol Plaza in Costa Mesa, California.[9] The next decade, the internet became accessible to the general population and became the most popular means for furry fans to socialize.[10] The newsgroup alt.fan.furry was created in November 1990, and virtual environments such as MUCKs also became popular places on the internet for fans to meet and communicate.[11]

The furry fandom is male-dominated, with surveys reporting around 80% male respondents.[12][13][14]

Inspiration
Allegorical novels, including works of both science fiction and fantasy, and cartoons featuring anthropomorphic animals are often cited as the earliest inspiration for the fandom.[5] A survey conducted in 2007 suggested that, when compared with a non-furry control group, a higher proportion of those self-identifying as furries liked cartoons "a great deal" as children and recalled watching them significantly more often, as well as being more likely to enjoy works of science fiction than those outside of the community.[15]

Activities
According to a survey from 2008, most furries believe that visual art, conventions, literature, and online communities are strongly important to the fandom.[13]

Crafts

Sculpture at Further Confusion
Fans with craft skills create their own plush toys, sometimes referred to as plushies, and also build elaborate costumes called fursuits,[16] which are worn for fun or to participate in parades, convention masquerades, dances, or fund-raising charity events (as entertainers).[17] Fursuits range from designs featuring simple construction and resembling sports mascots[15] to those with more sophisticated features that include moving jaw mechanisms, animatronic parts, prosthetic makeup, and other features. Fursuits range in price from $500, for mascot-like designs, to an upwards of $10,000 for models incorporating animatronics.[18] While about 80% of furries do not own a full fursuit,[12][13][15] often citing their expensive cost as the decisive factor,[15] a majority of them hold positive feelings towards fursuiters and the conventions in which they participate.[12][13] Some fans may also wear "partial" suits consisting simply of ears and a tail, or a head, paws, and a tail.[15]

Furry fans also pursue puppetry, recording videos and performing live shows such as Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends and the Funday PawPet Show, and create furry accessories, such as ears or tails.[19]

Role-playing
"Fursonas" redirects here. For the 2016 documentary film, see Fursonas (film).
Anthropomorphic animal characters created by furry fans, known as fursonas,[20] are used for role-playing in MUDs,[21] on internet forums, or on electronic mailing lists.[22] A variety of species are employed as the basis of these personas, although many furry fans (for example over 60% of those surveyed in 2007) choose to identify themselves with carnivorans.[23][24] The longest-running online furry role-playing environment is FurryMUCK, which was established in 1990.[25] Many furry fans had their first exposure to the fandom come from multiplayer online role-playing games.[26][unreliable source?] Another popular online furry social game is called Furcadia, created by Dragon's Eye Productions. There are also several furry-themed areas and communities in the virtual world Second Life.[27]

Conventions
Main article: Furry convention

Furry fans prepare for a race at Midwest FurFest 2006
Sufficient interest and membership has enabled the creation of many furry conventions in North America and Europe. A furry convention is for the fans get together to buy and sell artwork, participate in workshops, wear costumes, and socialize.[28] The world's largest[29] furry convention, Anthrocon with more than 5,861 participants, held annually in Pittsburgh in June,[30] was estimated to have generated approximately $3 million to Pittsburgh's economy in 2008.[31] Another convention, Further Confusion, held in San Jose each January, closely follows Anthrocon in scale and attendance. US$470,000 was raised in conventions for charity from 2000–9.[32] The first known furry convention, ConFurence,[5] is no longer held; Califur has replaced it, as both conventions were based in Southern California. A University of California, Davis survey suggested that about 40% of furries had attended at least one furry convention.[12]

Websites and online communities
The internet contains a multitude of furry websites and online communities, such as art community websites Fur Affinity, Inkbunny, SoFurry and Weasyl; social networking sites Furry 4 Life, FurNation; and WikiFur, a collaborative furry wiki.[33] These, with the IRC networks FurNet and Anthrochat, form a key part of furry fandom. Usenet newsgroups such as alt.fan.furry and alt.lifestyle.furry, popular from the mid-1990s to 2005, have been replaced by topic-specific forums, mailing lists and LiveJournal communities.

There are several webcomics featuring animal characters created by or for furry fans; as such, they may be referred to as furry comics. One such comic, T.H.E. Fox, was first published on CompuServe in 1986, predating the World Wide Web by several years,[34] while another, Kevin and Kell by Bill Holbrook, has been awarded both a Web Cartoonists' Choice Award and an Ursa Major Award.[35][36]

Furry lifestylers
The phrases furry lifestyle and furry lifestyler first appeared in July 1996 on the newsgroup alt.fan.furry during an ongoing dispute within that online community. The Usenet newsgroup alt.lifestyle.furry was created to accommodate discussion beyond furry art and literature, and to resolve disputes concerning what should or should not be associated with the fandom; its members quickly adopted the term furry lifestylers, and still consider the fandom and the lifestyle to be separate social entities. They have defined and adopted an alternative meaning of the word furry specific to this group: "a person with an important emotional/spiritual connection with an animal or animals, real, fictional, or symbolic."[37]

In their 2007 survey, Gerbasi et al. examined what it meant to be a furry, and proposed a taxonomy in which to categorise different "types" of furries. The largest group—38% of those surveyed—described their interest in furry fandom predominantly as a "route to socializing with others who share common interests such as anthropomorphic art and costumes."[38] However they also identified furries who saw themselves as "other than human", or who desired to become more like the furry species which they identified with.[10][15]

Sexual aspects
"Yiff" redirects here. For the film festival also known as YIFF, see Yerevan International Film Festival.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yiff.
When compared with the general population, homosexuality and bisexuality are over-represented in the furry fandom[15] by about a factor of 10. Of the US population, about 1.8% of persons self-identify as bisexual and 1.7% as homosexual according to a 2011 study from scholars at UCLA.[39] In contrast, according to four different surveys 14–25% of the fandom members report homosexuality, 37–52% bisexuality, 28–51% heterosexuality, and 3–8% other forms of alternative sexual relationships.[12][14][40][41] Approximately half of the respondents reported being in a relationship, of which 76% were in a relationship with another member of furry fandom.[12] Examples of sexual aspects within furry fandom include erotic art and furry-themed cybersex.[42][43] The term "yiff" is sometimes used to indicate sexual activity or sexual material within the fandom—this applies to sexual activity and interaction within the subculture whether in the form of cybersex or offline.[44][45]

Sexual attraction to furry characters is a polarizing issue. In one survey with 4,300 furry respondents, 37% answered that sexual attraction is important in their furry activities, 38% were ambivalent, and 24% answered that it has little or nothing to do with their furry activities.[41] In a different online survey, 33% of furry respondents answered that they have a "significant sexual interest in furry", another 46% stated they have a "minor sexual interest in furry", and the remaining 21% stated they have a "non-sexual interest in furry". The survey specifically avoided adult-oriented websites to prevent bias.[14] Another survey found that 96.3% of male furry respondents reported viewing furry pornography, compared with 78.3% of female; males estimated 50.9% of all furry art they view is pornographic, compared with 30.7% female. Furries have a slight preference for pornographic furry artwork over non-pornographic artwork. 17.1% of males reported that when they viewed pornography it is exclusively or near-exclusively furry pornography, and only about 5% reported that pornography was the top factor which got them into the fandom.[46]

A portion of the fandom is sexually interested in zoophilia (sex with animals), although a majority take a negative stance towards it. An anonymous survey in 2008 found 17% of respondents reported zoophilia. An earlier survey, conducted from 1997 to 1998, reported about 2% of furry respondents stating an interest in zoophilia, and less than 1% an interest in plushophilia (sexually aroused by stuffed animal toys). The older, lower results, which are even lower than estimated in the general population, were due to the methodology of questioning respondents face-to-face, which led to social desirability bias.[40][47] In contrast, one comparative study from 1974 and 1980 showed 7.5% of sampled students at University of Northern Iowa reporting zoophilia,[48] while other studies find only 2.2%[49] to 5.3%[50] expressing fantasies of sex with animals.

Public perception and media coverage
Early portrayal of the furries in magazines such as Wired,[51] Loaded,[52] Vanity Fair,[53] and the syndicated sex column "Savage Love" focused mainly on the sexual aspect of furry fandom. Fictional portrayals of furry fandom have appeared on television shows such as ER,[54] CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,[55] The Drew Carey Show,[56] Sex2K on MTV,[57] Entourage,[58] 1000 Ways to Die,[59] Tosh.0,[60][61] and 30 Rock.[62] Most furry fans claim that these media portrayals are misconceptions,[63][64][65] while the recent coverage focuses on debunking myths and stereotypes that have come to be associated with the furry fandom.[66] A reporter attending Anthrocon 2006 noted that "despite their wild image from Vanity Fair, MTV and CSI, furry conventions aren't about kinky sex between weirdos gussied up in foxy costumes", that conference attendees were "not having sex more than the rest of us",[67] and that the furry convention was about "people talking and drawing animals and comic-book characters in sketchbooks."[44] In October 2007, a Hartford Advocate reporter attended FurFright 2007 undercover because of media restrictions. She learned that the restrictions were intended to prevent misinformation, and reported that the scandalous behavior she had expected was not evident.[68] Recent coverage of the furry fandom has been more balanced. According to Ian Wolf, a 2009 article from the BBC entitled "Who are the furries?" was the first piece of journalism to be nominated for an Ursa Major Award, the main awards given in the field of anthropomorphism.[10][69][70]

Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Jim Powell was sharing a hotel with Anthrocon 2007 attendees a day before the convention and reported a negative opinion of the furries.[71] Several downtown Pittsburgh businesses welcome furries during the event, with local business owners creating special T-shirts and drawing paw prints in chalk outside their shops to attract attendees.[72] Dr. Samuel Conway, CEO of Anthrocon, said that "For the most part, people give us curious stares, but they're good-natured curious stares. We're here to have fun, people have fun having us here, everybody wins".[73] Positive coverage was generated following a furry convention that was held in a Vancouver hotel where a number of Syrian refugees were being temporarily housed. Despite some concerns and warnings by staff that there could be a seriously negative culture clash if the two groups interacted, the refugee children were on the whole delighted to meet the convention goers who seemed like cartoon characters come to life. [74][75]

According to Furry survey, about half of furries perceive public reaction to the fandom as negative; less than a fifth stated that the public responded to them more negatively than they did most furries.[13] Furry fans' belief that they will be portrayed as "mainly obsessed with sex" has led to mistrust of the media and social researchers.[10]

Sociological aspects

An anthropomorphic vixen (female fox), a typical furry character
The International Anthropomorphic Research Project, a team of social scientists from various disciplines led by Plante, Reysen, Roberts, and Gerbasi, has been collecting data on the furry fandom using numerous methodologies. Their 2016 publication collects several peer-reviewed and self-published studies into a single volume.[76][77] Among their findings were that the average adult furry is between 23–27 years of age, with more than 75% of adult furries reporting being 25 years of age or younger, and 88% of adult furries being under the age of 30. Minors were not included in the study for professional ethics reasons.[77]:4–7 78–85% of furries identify as male, nearly 2% of furries identify as transgender, the remaining identify as female.[77]:10 83–90% of furries self-identify as White, with small minorities of furries self-identifying as Asian (2–4%), Black (2–3%), and Hispanic (3%).[77]:7–10 21% of furries consider themselves to be a brony, 44% consider themselves to be anime fans, and 11% consider themselves sport fans.[77]:32–33 Furries, as a group, are more politically liberal and less religious than the average American or other comparable fan groups such as anime fans,[77]:18 while still containing contentious groups such as neo-Nazis and alt-right activists whose affiliation is partly in jest and partly in earnest.[78] Religion: 54% of furries self-identified as atheist or agnostic, 23% as Christian, 4% as Pagan, 2% as Wiccan, and the remainder identified with other religions.[77]:16 Approximately 70% of adult furries have either completed, or are currently completing post-secondary education.[77]:12

One of the most universal behaviors in the furry fandom is the creation of a fursona – an anthropomorphic animal representation or avatar. More than 95% of furries have a fursona – an anthropomorphic avatar or representation of themselves. Nearly half of furries report that they have only ever had one fursona to represent themselves; relatively few furries have had more than three or four fursonas; in part, this is due to the fact that, for many furries, their fursonas are a personally significant, meaningful representation of their ideal self. The most popular fursona species include wolves, foxes, dogs, large felines, and dragons. Data suggest that there are generally no associations between personality traits and different fursona species.[77]:50–74 However, furries, along with sport fans, report different degrees of personality traits when thinking of themselves in their everyday identity compared with their fan identity.[77]:129–133 Some furries identify as partly non-human: 35% say they do not feel 100% human (compared with 7% of non-furries), and 39% say they would be 0% human if they could (compared with 10% of non-furries).[77]:78

Inclusion and belongingness are central themes in the furry fandom: compared with members of other fandoms such as anime or fantasy sport, furries are significantly more likely to identify with other members of their fan community. On average, half of a furry's friends are also furry themselves.[77]:123–133 Furries rate themselves higher (compared with a comparison community sample of non-furries) on degree of global awareness (knowledge of the world and felt connection to others in the world), global citizenship identification (psychological connection with global citizens), and environmental sustainability.[77]:18

See also
Topics
Animal roleplay
Costumed character
Human–animal hybrid
Kemonomimi
Otherkin
Therianthropy
Persons
Samuel Conway
Steve Gallacci
Bill Holbrook
Dominique McLean
Fred Patten
icon

Book: Furry fandom
References
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