Story By: Amelia Guran, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/@ibrahim.sedef.1
This is the moment a huge real-life Pooh bear with a discerning palate laps up the most expensive honey on the table and shuns the regular stuff.
The beekeeper behind this experiment into the bear’s eating habits confirmed that they have expensive taste when it comes to honey, as they showed a clear preference for Anzersky honey, one of the most expensive in the world, shunning cheaper honeys and also cherry jam that was also on offer.
As well as being irresistible to bears, Anzersky honey reportedly has healing qualities for a long list of ailments ranging from stomach ache through to hair loss and as an antiseptic for wounds.
Agronomist and beekeeper Ibrahim Sedef, who owns the Zedef Apiary in the district of Surmen in the north-eastern Turkish province of Trabzon, said that bears have been wandering onto his grounds and causing damage for a long while.
After they ravaged his hives for the umpteenth time, Sedef decided to carry out an experiment to see which foods the bears preferred in the hope of understanding them better and finding a way to stop them raiding his beehives.
The Turkish beekeeper, who installed a CCTV camera several months ago and regularly posts footage of the bears wandering around his grounds, has been leaving out bowls of different honeys and jam to determine their preferences.
In the footage, one large bear is seen excitedly nodding its head as he licks clean one bowl labelled ‘Cicek Bali’ – meaning “flower honey”.
At the end of the clip, a bear is seen approaching the beekeeper’s cabin before he scares the huge mammal away.
According to Sedef, the bears prefer the most expensive brand, called Anzersky honey.
Anzersky honey can only be collected in small quantities and it costs 500 USD (402 GBP) per kilogramme (2.2 lbs).
He added that out of all the samples, the bears unfortunately least liked cherry jam.
Sedef said: “When I look at the bears’ funny behaviour filmed by my hidden camera, I forget about all the damage they cause!”
Netizen ‘Dmitrii Grostev’ commented: “I thought bears only ate honey in fairytales!”
‘Tatyana Ajurova’ said: “I would protect my apiary with a high fence, why doesn’t he just do that?”
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