“Just hanging out”. As full autumn hits the valley of Hallingdal in Norway, this bear chills out in a tree which seems to barely cover its weight. Photo location: Flå, Hallingdal, Norway. (Photo and caption by Jorgen Tharaldsen/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Children wearing bear fur costumes dance during a parade in Comanesti, Romania, Friday, December 30, 2022. In pre-Christian rural traditions, dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs, toured from house to house in villages singing and dancing to ward off evil. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Boy says hello to a swimming bear in Seattle, Washington on October 4, 2022. Fall weather brings out the Animals' playful side as Attendees celebrate World Animal Day with a visit to Woodlawn Park Zoo. (Photo by Shane Srogi/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

In this undated handout photograph from the “Inside Out Project”, a poster bearing the image of a Pakistani girl whose parents, lawyers say, were killed in a drone strike, lies in a field at an undisclosed location in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. A group of artists in Pakistan are hoping to generate “empathy” among US drone operators by placing giant posters of children in the country's troubled tribal regions. (Photo by AFP Photo)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

Young Japanese women pose with a green bear costumed person during the 'Earth Parade 2015' in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, November 28, 2015. Ahead of the U.N. climate change summit in Paris starting this week, about 1,000 citizens and environmental activists took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday, calling for strong actions to combat global warming. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

John Cox, far left, begins his recall campaign for California governor with “Tag”, a Kodiak brown bear, on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 in Sacramento. It was the first stop for his “Meet the Beast” bus tour. (Photo by Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP Photo)

Trinidadian-born rapper Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, known professionally as Nicki Minaj went fully nude and straddled a giant teddy bear in new raunchy photos. The rapper shared the revealing pictures while celebrating her 39th birthday on Wednesday, December 8, 2021. (Photo by Instagram)