So, why not a bear?

[lucid-nonsense]

If any of the scratches on the tent or the hikers had been made by an animal, you would see four parallel scratches.

Plus, there are no records of a group larger than five ever being attacked.

Plus, a bear would avoid an exposed alpine slope in the middle of a blizzard. They are resistant to cold, but not immune.

[Jun Sato]

I know they reported that there was no animal footprints. But then what are they in the one of their photos?

[Marchesk]

A wolverine is the only animal that could be responsible in this case, but I doubt even a wolverine is messing with 9 humans, and I doubt that they would flee the tent instead of chasing the critter off. The rest of the possible animals would leave tracks, make a mess, and snack on the bodies (for the carnivores).

[Nigel Evans]

Adult male bears can reach two tons in weight. An animal of that size jumping up and down could probably crush through snow creating the ravine injuries with no relevant bruising. But bears would be hungry in Feb and would snack on the victims. Cue the menk theory  .

[sarapuk]

I know they reported that there was no animal footprints. But then what are they in the one of their photos?

Looking at the photos its impossible to say exactly what caused the prints in the snow. We are told they were caused by humans.

[cz]

I think it is not necessary to imagine that the bear killed or attacked all hikers. It suffices that the events are set in motion at the tent.

I also cannot distinguish the footprints in the photo. However, the Mansi hunters and also the investigators from the Russian side would certainly have been able to do so. I tend to believe that they would not have tried to hide the fact because that would have been a natural and "innocuous" explanation, though maybe not a plausible one for those acquainted with the Ural winters.

[mk]

There was an American guy that like an idiot was living among a pack of Grizzlies in Alaska every year for years before their hibernation periods. The government told him to stop. He ignored them. One day he didn't come back from a trip. The search yielded a camcorder whose lens cap wasn't removed but had been recording the last moments of this man and his girlfriend's lives. Only one person has heard the 35 minutes of blood-curdling screaming and the sounds of human flesh being torn to shreds and eaten. She was his close friend and the footage was sent to her as she was listed as his next of kin. She will not even allow the media to get their hands on the footage.

My point is--if this had been a bear, we would not have photos of 9 relatively intact bodies. In my opinion of course.

I remember this story.  And it corresponds with other stories of bear attacks that I've read.  As I understand it, bears attacks are marked by biting, clawing, ripping, tearing, and chewing--not just of tents, but of people.  Nothing so delicate as scrapes and cuts, or even missing tongues and eyeballs.

[sarapuk]

There was an American guy that like an idiot was living among a pack of Grizzlies in Alaska every year for years before their hibernation periods. The government told him to stop. He ignored them. One day he didn't come back from a trip. The search yielded a camcorder whose lens cap wasn't removed but had been recording the last moments of this man and his girlfriend's lives. Only one person has heard the 35 minutes of blood-curdling screaming and the sounds of human flesh being torn to shreds and eaten. She was his close friend and the footage was sent to her as she was listed as his next of kin. She will not even allow the media to get their hands on the footage.

My point is--if this had been a bear, we would not have photos of 9 relatively intact bodies. In my opinion of course.

I remember this story.  And it corresponds with other stories of bear attacks that I've read.  As I understand it, bears attacks are marked by biting, clawing, ripping, tearing, and chewing--not just of tents, but of people.  Nothing so delicate as scrapes and cuts, or even missing tongues and eyeballs.

 My first thoughts some years ago was that it was a Bear or Bears but when I spoke to a Russian friend about the Dyatlov mystery he was absolutely dismissive of the case for Bear attack. He was born and bred in Yekaterinburg [  Sverdlovsk  ].