Types of Bears

This is Bobo, he’s a Magical Blue Bear and like all Blue Bears he’s very proud of his colour. He is the Overbear to the bears that live in Snodgrass Forest. Overbears are generally very wise, and Bobo is no exception. He has developed a lot of cunning and skill over his long life, and other bears come to him for advice and help. 

Bobo loves his job, and he’s very good at it. However, he can run into problems, such as when certain Small Helping Bears move into the forest! If you haven’t already, you can read about this in Are Rabbits Bears, Book One, and if you like Bobo, you might be interested to know that he turns up in Book Two as well… 

Muesli is a Pessabear, but he didn’t start out that way. In the beginning, he had a sunny outlook on life. But when events took a turn for the worse, so did his ideas, and he was convinced that bad luck was following him around. Now he’s a Pessabear and lives happily, or rather grumpily, in the Bear Dimension. 

Muesli’s first home collapsed rather unexpectedly before he arrived, and his second home was a plastic bag. So now that he has a comfortable home in an attractive village near Bear Central, he should be happy. But then, how can a Pessabear be happy if they have nothing to complain about?! 

Here is a picture of Percival Dumplington-Smythe and Bertie Trumpington-Bottom playing their one of their favourite board games. Optabears love games, especially word games, so they have that in common with Professor Bears. Percival and Bertie are very good friends but some of the village bears don’t quite understand why. If only they could see the world through the eyes of an Optabear!  

Optabears look at everything with the point of view that if it’s happening it must be for a wonderful reason. They are very hard to insult or bring down. They really do light up every room they’re in. If you are lucky enough to have an Optabear at home, I’m sure they will uplift you with their happy smiles and positive view of the world.

This is Basher Bear, a bear with big dreams who was determined to be one of the beastliest bears around. He stars in his own series of books, which he is very pleased about. Like all good Beastly Bears, Basher is very creative, and he is always able to think up a clever way out of any difficulties – even when those difficulties are Rabbit-shaped, and keep smiling at him. 

Beastly is bearspeak for ‘cool’ and Beastly Bears are very concerned with their appearance. But more than that, these bears are valued for their ability to stay calm in a crisis and think up solutions to impossible problems. 

Here is Mr Bear. Although it doesn’t look like it in the picture, he does in fact like watching television – occasionally. He prefers conversation and helping people but he does enjoy a film or two, if they’re entertaining. 

Stone Bears are some of the oldest recorded types of bears. They are so old that they have certain magical powers and their original names are usually quite long and difficult to pronounce. That is why this bear has a rather simple name. It is a good reminder not to judge a bear, or a book by their cover. You never know quite what is hiding underneath!

Cedric is a Small Helping Bear who lives in Snodgrass Forest. He is, like all other Small Helping Bears, so keen to help others that he can completely forget to look after himself. This is why it’s good for bears like Cedric to have others around them who can help them to help themselves. 

Small Helping Bears really don’t like people helping them, so sometimes you have to be a bit sneaky like Bobo, the Magical Blue Bear, in Are Rabbits Bears, Book One. 

Darwin doesn’t write a story about Twin Bears in Are Rabbits Bears; he does something different instead. Something much more professorial! 

Although Darwin doesn’t know any Twin Bears personally, luckily we do! This picture is of two Twin Bears from Aylsham, Norfolk: Ted and Tiny. They might not look similar – but they do everything together. They love to share everything in their lives – yes – even honey!

“To a Twin Bear there is something unbearably sad about eating a pot of honey on your own. Especially when you have laid two spoons…”

This is Edgar and in this picture he’s trying very hard to keep calm, but he’s gone right off his afternoon snack of cheese with olives. What a disaster! These bears are very good-natured and kind-hearted so it is hard to upset them, but there are some things even the king of the Bear Dimension shouldn’t do!

Did you know that Siberian Cheese Bears, are one of the oldest recorded species of bears, and that they are descendants of bears who used to live in the frozen lands of Northern Siberia on Eternia.* A Siberian Cheese Bear is the only type of bear to enjoy iced cheese – this is a trait left over from their ancestors as it made up a major part of their diet.

*Eternia is one of the seven planets of the Bear Dimension

This is a picture of Chi Ba – the very first Chi Bear. In this picture he is meditating about what he has learnt in his many years at school, and he comes to some rather surprising conclusions. 

Chi Bears use different types of meditations to get in touch with their real selves and the special wisdom they carry inside. They love to help other bears and they don’t always do it the conventional way.

Chi Bears actually invented their own kind of yoga. In the People Dimension we have yoga positions like the downward-facing dog and the tree pose, but Chi Bears are more likely to be ‘scratching the untraceable itch’ or ‘eating up the biscuits’ (not to be confused with ‘I’ve eaten all the biscuits, which is a whole body pose and can last for a long time!).

As you can see from the picture, Boris is wearing all of his clothes! The surprising thing about Snow Bears is that although they love the snow, they don’t like the cold! They go to great lengths to stay warm and cozy so that they can enjoy the snow to maximum effect. 

This means that short periods outside out in the snow must be immediately followed by steaming bowls of soup in front of a roaring fire.  No self-respecting Snow Bear would ever spend hours and hours out in the freezing cold unless it was a dire emergency. 

A Snow Bear’s year revolves around preparing for snow and enjoying the snowy season. Their snow caves in the mountains are elaborate and carefully created in order to have the maximum amount of fun and coziness. 

Not all bears are rabbits and very few rabbits are bears – but it can happen. In this case, Rabbit, despite his appearance and love of carrots, is actually a bear. Confusing for some maybe, but not for him. He is absolutely sure of who he is.

Rabbits-Who-Are-Bears are true individuals. They don’t spend their time trying to imitate others. They are very creative and love to express who they really are, whether that is creeping ninja-like down the stairs on a secret mission, baking a pie, or preparing to be snowed-in! 

These kinds of bears are very friendly and accepting of others around them, even when those others are grumpy, and a little bit full of themselves. As you will have noticed from reading Are Rabbits Bears, Book One, Rabbit has the wonderful ability to see the good in everyone. That is to say, almost everyone…but you’ll have to read the end of Book Two to find out about that!

Darwin is a Professor Bear so he is very interested in intellectual pursuits. He loves long words, complicated ideas and big important-looking books. Something he would never do is play an electronic game! Unless it was educational of course…

As a Professor Bear, Darwin loves to look the part, in spectacles, waistcoat and bow tie. Bears like Darwin don’t like parties, but they do like important occasions, where long speeches are made, especially if they are the one making the speech. 

If you have a Professor Bear at home, you might like to sit him, or her, somewhere high up where they can make speeches to their heart’s content. The only trouble with this is that Professor Bears sometimes become so carried away with making speeches that they don’t know how to stop. In this situation, try offering them tea and cake. It makes the perfect distraction.