Blackbear 



1067 



to reproduce; though it is possible that the female is ready a 

 year earlier. 



The period of gestation is about seven months. 



\ 



The young are born in the latter half of January, while 

 the mother is sealed up in her winter den, and — being far from 

 torpid — very well able to devote all her time to the offspring, the 

 case recalling that of the great 

 Indian hornbill, in which the male ji 



bird seals up the female in the .y 



nest with the eggs, to insure her t 



unremitting attention; only in ._ > 

 the case of the she Bear the relin- / .^^ 

 quishment of the world is volun- 

 tary and complete, and lasts for 

 several months, during which she 

 neither eats nor drinks, and is yet 

 in full possession of all her appe- 

 tites, powers, and faculties. 



It was long stated and be- 

 lieved among trappers and hunt- 

 ers that no man ever yet killed 

 a pregnant Bear. The fact is that 

 the embryos are so small that no 

 one, but an expert anatomist, 

 could find them; even up to the 

 time when they are born they are surprisingly small, as well as 

 naked, and rather shapeless. They are much less in proportion 

 than the young of any other mammal outside of the marsupials. 



GESTA- 

 TION 



Fig. 244 — Mastology of Blackbear 9 . 



Great Slave River, June 15, 1907. 



At birth they are about 8 inches long and weigh from 9 to size 

 12 ounces, that is about 1-200 to 1-250 of the mother's weight, 

 while a young Deer is 1-30, a young dog 1-25, the human being 

 1-20, and the young Porcupine 1-15 of the weight of the 

 mother. A new-born Porcupine is, in fact, as Merriam points 

 out, actually larger and heavier than a new-born Blackbear. 



