t^i <Bn35f J 



before they do even this and late August before 

 they eat solid things with any regularity. They are 

 not likely to be weaned until just before denning- 

 up time. The Indians in Alaska told me that some- 

 times the cubs are not weaned until the second 

 autumn of their lives. This certainly is sometimes 

 true, but I think it peculiar to Alaska. 



Comical and cunning the cubs appear as they 

 mimic the mother. When she stands up with fore 

 paws against her breast, looking intently into the 

 distance, the cubs stand up with their paws upon 

 their breasts and look in the same direction. When 

 mother turns or sniffs, these cunning little imita- 

 tors also turn and sniff. The cubs walk up to a spot 

 where the mother has been sniffing and digging and 

 there sniff and dig. If mother continues digging 

 rather long, they find a place of their own and dig. 

 If mother reaches up and pulls down a fruit-laden 

 limb and takes a bite, they too must pull down a 

 twig of some kind and at least look at it. 



Around the shores of Chickadee Pond a mother 

 grizzly and her two cubs spent a July day digging 

 out grass roots, willow roots, and probably also 

 grubs. I watched them for hours. Occasionally one 

 took a mouthful of grass or a bite of blue merten- 



32 



