http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/20/polar.bears.ap/index.html

When the news covers bears they always cover Pandas. Polar Bears are by far my favorite bear. I heard a great story once of a guy sea kayaking up in the norther reaches of Canada. A Polar bear spotted him. Now Polar bears are always hungry and never give up when they can see their prey. The guy saw the polar bear and started paddling as the tide was going out so he made good time, but the bear was still there always in the horizon behind him chasing on land. Finally after 11 hours straight of paddling, riding the tide at first and fighting it as he grew tired, he did not see the bear for an hour. So he tied his Kayak to a larger ice floe and tried to sleep. It was the middle of the night and he thought if he were to land the kayak he would leave himself open to attack, but attached to a floe he would be ready to move in minutes time. He was asleep for about an hour when he heard the roar of a polar bear. It was about 100 yards from him. He paddled for 22 more hours straight with the polar bear getting as close as 50 yards and slipping as far as 500 yards away before he came upon a fishing village the bear was scared of. You don't find that kind of determination in a Koala or a Panda.