104 ANIMAL LIFE OF CARLSBAD CAVERN 



TEXAS GRIZZLY 



Ursus texensis texensis 



That grizzly bears once inhabited the Sacramento and 

 Guadalupe mountain ranges is well known, but as 

 early as 1900 they were extremely scarce, and now are 

 probably all gone. Not a specimen remains to show 

 what the species was, but on grounds of proximity they 

 may well have been the same as the one described by 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam from the Davis Mountains, 

 Texas, killed in 1900 by C. O. Finley and John Z. 

 Means. Apparently the species is now extinct, but 

 any old skulls from the Guadalupe or Sacramento 

 mountains would be of great interest in showing which 

 of the several species of grizzly bears once inhabit- 

 ing New Mexico was represented in this range. 



This is a small brown or gray form of the large- 

 toothed, long-clawed, grizzly group. 



NEW MEXICO BLACK BEAR 



Ursus americanus amblyceps 



A few black bears still occur in the Guadalupe 

 Mountains, and occasionally they come down the 

 canyons almost to the great cave. Originally they 

 undoubtedly came beyond the cave, and may at times 

 have occupied the entrance tunnel, as they still some- 

 times do in the caves in Slaughter and other canyons. 

 The dense chaparral in the heads of canyons of the 

 Guadalupe Mountains affords excellent cover and an 

 abundance of acorns and berries for bears in a region 

 so steep and rough that hunting is difficult, and it is to 



