Bear Spray
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Where I'm living black bears are quite
commonly seen around town. While I have yet to hear of a really bad
bear encounter many bears are destroyed every year for getting too
familiar with town. Most people here merely avoid them when they see them. Alternatively, aggressive responses to threatening bear encounters include
firearms and pepper spray. While obtaining a firearm requires getting a
firearms license and many restrictions, getting bear spray is as simple as purchasing some from Canadian Tire.
So what is bear pepper spray and does
it work?
The active ingredient in bear pepper
spray is the same compound that makes some peppers spicy. This spicy
compound is caspaicin. Bear spray is also known as capsicum deterrent
since capsicum is the genus of plants that includes caspaicin
containing peppers.
Capsicum plants have evolved production
of caspaicin in order to deter mammals from consuming the fruit of
the plant. When consumed capsaicin produces a strong burning
sensation in the mouth. This burning sensation is experienced by most
other mammals, and is real, at least according to your brain.
Capsacin binds a cellular receptor that is also activated by
temperatures exceeding 43 degrees Celcius. The receptor, transient
receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1
(TRPV1), is responsible for communicating pain and has a role in
temperature regulation. Evolutionary pressure has caused capsicum
plants to produce capsaicin to...
Source: Bayblab - Category: Medical Scientists Authors: rob Source Type: blogs