BEAR FAMILY 



89 



and night, the animal reached City Island, where 

 he was unloaded by men from the neighboring 

 Zoological Park. 



^^'hen the first voyagers went to the Arctic 

 Seas, dressed in thick clothes and skins, the 

 Polar Bears took them for seals. On Bear 

 Island, below Spitzbergen, a Dutch sailor sat 

 down on the snow to rest. A Bear walked up 

 behind him, and seized and crushed his head, 

 evidently not in the least aware of what kind of 

 animal it had stalked. \Mien the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth Exposition was wintering in Franz- 

 Josef Land, the Bears were a positive nuisance. 

 They were not afraid of man, and used to come 

 round the huts at all hours. The men shot so 

 many of them that they formed a valuable ar- 

 ticle of food for the dogs. 



The power of these Bears in the water is 

 wonderful ; though so bulky, they are as light as 

 a cork when swimming, and their strong, broad 

 feet are first-class paddles. The manoeuvres of 

 a Polar Bear in the water are marvelous to 

 watch. It swims, dives, rolls over and over, 

 catches seals or fish, or plays both on and 

 under the water with an ease and evident enjoy- 

 ment which show that it is in its element. A 

 favorite game is to lie on its back in the water, 

 and then to catch hold of its hind toes with its 

 fore feet, when it resembles a half-rolled hedge- 

 hog of gigantic size. It then rolls over and over 

 in the water like a revolving cask. Its foot- 

 steps are absolutely noiseless, as the claws are 

 shorter than the land-bear's, and more muf- 

 fled in fur. This noiseless power of approach 

 is very necessary when it has to catch such wary 

 creatures as basking seals. A very large propor- 

 tion of the food formerly eaten by Ice Bears in 



summer was probably putrid, as they were al- 

 ways supplied with a quantity of the refuse car- 

 casses of whales and seals left by the whaling- 

 ships. This may account for the bad results to 

 the sailors who ate the Bears' flesh. Now the 

 whaling industry is so little pursued that the 

 Bears have to catch their dinners for themselves., 

 and eat fresh food. 



The Arctic explorer Nordenskjold saw much 

 of these bears on his voyage,' and left us what 

 is perhaps the best description of their attempts 

 to stalk men, mistaking them for other animals. 

 " When the Polar Bear observes a man," he 

 writes in his " Voyage of the Vega," ," he com- 

 monly approaches him as a possible prey, with 

 supple movements and a hundred zigzag bends, 

 in order to conceal the direction he means to 

 take and to prevent the man feeling frightened. 

 During his approach he often climbs up on to 

 blocks of ice, or raises himself on his hind legs, 

 in order to get a more extensive view. If he 

 thinks he has to do with a seal, he creeps or 

 trails himself forward on the ice, and is then 

 said to conceal with his fore paws the only part 

 of his body that contrasts with the snow — his 

 large, black nose. If the man keeps quite still, 

 the Bear comes in this way so near that it can 

 be shot at the distance of two gun-lengths, or 

 killed with a lance, which the hunter considers 

 safer." When hunting seals. Polar Bears will 

 chase them in the water as an Otter does a fish, 

 but with what result is not known. Besides 

 stalking them in the manner described above, 

 they will mark the place at which seals are bask- 

 ing on the rim of an ice-floe, and then dive, and 

 come up just at the spot where the seal would 

 naturally drop into the water. 



GRIZZLY BEAR 

 Ursus horribilis Ord 



Other Name. — Silver-tip Bear. 



General Description. — Among the largest of the 

 Bears, powerfully built, heavy, thick set. Five well 

 developed toes on each foot ; plantigrade ; claws long, 

 nearly straight, nonretractile ; claws on front foot 

 longer than those on hind foot ; tail very short ; ears 

 •.^hort, rounded ; color everywhere dark ; generally of 

 a deep brown color grizzled or frosted with white 

 tipping to the hairs. 



Dental Formula. — Incisors, ^— ^ ; Canines. '=' ; Pre- 



molars, ^- — ^ ; Molars, ^ — ^=42. 

 4—4 i—3, 



Pelage. — Sexes alike in color with little seasonal 



variation. In general color deep brown darkening to 



brownish-black along spine, on limbs and on ears ; 



occasionally white tipping much reduced ; limbs dark, 

 sometimes whitish areas on face or chest. Hair every- 

 where rather long ; generally a short mane on shoulders 

 and upper back, and hair at base of jaws somewhat 

 elongated. Young : Dark in color, similar to adults. 



Measurements. — Length, male, 8 to 9 feet ; height 

 at shoulder, y/2 to 4 feet; hind foot, 10 inches; claws, 

 4 to 6 inches. Weight, 600 to 800 pounds. Female, 

 slightly smaller, weighing 500 pounds. 



Range. — Wyoming to Alaska in Rocky Mountain 

 region. 



Food. — More or less omnivorous, but at times largely 

 carnivorous when opportunity affords ; able to prey on 

 the largest, but not disdaining to eat small mammals, 

 such as ground squirrels and gophers. 



