BEAR FAMILY 



91 



authority states : " He will climb a fruit-tree. 

 strip whole branches of ripe fruit with his 

 huge paws and claws, and then on the way home 

 will finish off the meal with a toad or a lizard." 

 Mr. ^^'illiam H. Wright cites a State .Senator 

 who " tells of shooting a Grizzly four times 

 through the heart and having it still chase him 

 over down timber and bad going," and of an- 

 other " that used to come once a week, climb a 

 live-oak tree, walk out along a horizontal branch 

 over a high-fenced pigpen, drop in, steal a little 

 pig, push the gate open (it opened out), and 

 go home." Dr. Hornaday, who has made many 

 observations on the temper of the Grizzly, is 

 " convinced that naturally the disposition of this 

 reputedly savage creature is rather peaceful and 

 good-natured. At the same time, however, no 

 animal is more prompt to resent an affront or 

 injury, or punish an offender. The Grizzly 

 temper is defensive, not aggressive ; and, unless 

 the animal is cornered, or tliiiiks lie is cornered, 

 he always flees from man." 



Less than a quarter of a century ago, the 

 range of the Grizzlv Bear was given by natural- 

 ists as from Norton Sound, Alaska, through the 

 Rocky Mountains to Mexico, and from the 

 Pacific Coast across the Sierra Nevada to 

 \\'yoming : but this is now considerably dimin- 

 ished, and as late as 1903, it was stated that " in 

 all parts of the United .States save the Yellow- 

 stone Park and the Clearwater Mountains of 

 Idaho, the Grizzly is now a rare animal, and so 

 difficult to find that it is almost useless to seek 

 it this side of British Columbia ... in a short 

 time none will exist in the United States out- 

 side of the Yellowstone Park and the zoological 

 gardens. In the wilds of Alaska, they may 

 survive for perhaps a quarter of a century 

 longer." 



Compared with the Black Bear, the Grizzly 

 has a greater length of body, and is straighter 

 along the back. The muzzle is rather square, 

 the jaws are longer, and the forehead narrower. 

 Another characteristic of the Grizzly is the great 

 length of the third incisor on each side of the 

 upper jaw. Dr. W. S. Rainsford once killed 

 " two well-grown two-year-old Grizzlies to- 

 gether, who had double instead of single tusks, 

 m both upper and lower jaws." It has very 

 powerful shoulders, and over these in some 

 members of the group is a hump-like lift which 

 hunters term the " roach." Its claws are from 

 four to six inches long and very formidable ; 

 and, while they do not enable the animal to 

 climb a tree, they are admirably adapted for 



digging roots, turning over rocks or logs, and 

 especially for fighting. A Grizzly has been 

 known to carry off the carcass of an Elk weigh- 

 ing nearly 1000 poimds. 



The published accounts of the size and weight 

 of the Grizzly Bear are, in many cases, very mis- 

 leading and much exaggerated. Mr. Wright, 

 who has hunted, studied, or photographed the 

 animal for twenty-five years, has seen old Griz- 

 zlies, with " their teeth worn down to the gums," 

 that would not liave tipped the scales at more 

 than 250 or 300 pounds. Dr. Rainsford esti- 

 mated the largest of eighteen Grizzlies killed by 

 him at not more than 850 pounds. Mr. Wright 

 saw one in Spokane that had been " sold to a 

 butcher, who claimed that he weighed it and 

 paid for 1173 pounds of bear meat." 



With regard to color. Grizzlies show con- 

 siderable variety. As long ago as 1805, Lewis 

 and Clark in their journals described them as 

 " grizzly," " gray," " white," " brown," and 

 " variegated." Dr. Rainsford considers that all 

 varieties of color are accounted for by the es- 

 tablished fact of interbreeding: he himself " shot 

 three yoimg Bears going with one sow, one al- 

 most yellow, one almost black, and another 

 nearly gray." Dr. Hornaday does not " know of 

 any other Bear species in which the coloration 

 of the pelage is so erratic." The standard 

 color (in winter) is brown next to the skin, the 

 extremities of the hair being tipped with silvery 

 gray, from which has come the common name of 

 " Sliver-tip." 



It is difficult to describe the gait of a Grizzly. 

 His walk is a shuffle but he will go a very long 

 wav without breaking it ; his run is a mixture of 

 a lope and a gallop ; and " no man can match him 

 in speed, and it takes a mighty good horse to 

 catch him." 



The feeding habits of the Grizzly Bear de- 

 pend on his environment. In a good Elk coimtry 

 he will feed on the carcass of that animal ; in the 

 Clearwater region he forsakes this diet, and 

 subsists on grass, salmon — he is a skillful 

 fisherman — and ants, grubs, or larvae. \\ hen 

 the berries come round, he feeds on them ; later, 

 on salmon again, and once more on ants. 



Grizzly Bears mate in the Northwest about 

 the middle of June to August, and begin to 

 hibernate in November, but these times vary 

 somewhat in dift'erent regions. The cubs (gen- 

 erally two or three, but sometimes four) are 

 born in the winter den of the female ; and are 

 tiny things for such huge parents. Two born in 

 the Zoological Park, New York, weighed eight 



