science

Meatball (bear)

Meatball (bear) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Meatball (bear) rather than just read about it. In short: Meatball, also known as Glendale Bear, Glen Bearian, Meatball 210, and Meatball the Bear, is an American black bear known for his frequent visits to neighborhoods in northern Los Angeles and Glendale, California. He was moved to the Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary in San Diego, California in 2012.

Key takeaways

Meatball (bear) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Meatball (bear) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Meatball (bear) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Meatball, also known as Glendale Bear, Glen Bearian, Meatball 210, and Meatball the Bear, is an American black bear known for his frequent visits to neighborhoods in northern Los Angeles and Glendale, California. He was moved to the Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary in San Diego, California in 2012.

Life Meatball was born c. 2006 or 2007. He was later ear-tagged with the number 210. In March 2012, Meatball made his first known neighborhood visit in northern Los Angeles and by the end of the summer, he had visited similar neighborhoods two more times, this despite the California Department of Fish and Game relocating him more than 100 miles (160 km) after each visit, an ability known as homing. While in the neighborhoods, Meatball swam in backyard pools and went through trash and pet food left out by residents, and on one visit, he was discovered in a garage eating a package of meatballs, earning him his name. After Meatball's third visit, he was relocated to the Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary in San Diego, California. Plans to relocate him to a larger sanctuary in Colorado were blocked by state officials after the San Diego facility pledged to build a 6-acre (24,000 m2) $250,000 ($350,594 in 2025) habitat for him. Meatball was not euthanized, the typical response to bears in his situation, due to his popularity online and amongst locals. In 2013, Meatball was reported to cost the Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary $10,000 ($13,821 in 2025) per year. The cost for Meatball's habitat had increased to $350,000 ($475,998 in 2025) as of 2014. Meatball was reported as weighing 400 pounds in 2012, 600 pounds in 2013, 500 pounds in 2014, and 600 pounds again in 2016.

Intellectual property dispute During Meatball's rise in popularity, Twitter user Sarah Aujero opened an account for him. The account soon had more than 25,000 followers. The following year, the Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary entered into a dispute over control of the Twitter account and rights to the bear's name with Aujero regarding the account. Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary has since copyrighted Meatball 210 and Meatball the Bear, while Aujero refers to Meatball as Glen Bearian. As of 2016, the two parties are not in contact with each other.

In popular culture In 2014, Meatball was featured on the Rose Parade float Lets Be Neighbors, which won the Governor's Award for the "Best Depiction of Life in California". Also in 2014, Lions, Tigers, and Bears Animal Sanctuary published a children's book featuring Meatball. Meatball was also featured on The Tonight Show.

See also List of individual bears List of wild animals from Los Angeles

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Meatball (bear)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Meatball (bear) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Meatball (bear) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Meatball (bear) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Meatball (bear)

In research: Meatball (bear) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Meatball (bear) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Meatball (bear) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century animal births, Environment of Greater Los Angeles, Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Meatball (bear) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Meatball (bear) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Meatball (bear) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Meatball (bear) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meatball (bear) in simple terms?

Why does Meatball (bear) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Meatball (bear)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Meatball (bear).