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after months of fasting? He has hibernated from 

 three to five months, and in this time probably has 

 taken neither water nor food. First of all he comes 

 forth fat and not in the least hungry. The walls of 

 his stomach have greatly contracted, almost com- 

 pletely closing the interior. Two stomachs which I 

 saw taken from grizzlies killed early in the spring 

 were as hard as chunks of rubber, and had capacity 

 for not more than two or three spoonfuls. But 

 when the grizzly reappears after his long winter 

 sleep he is as strong as ever and can run for hours 

 or fight with normal effectiveness. 



He may not eat anything for a few days after 

 leaving the den. For many days he eats lightly, 

 and it may be two weeks before he has a normal 

 appetite. His first food is likely to be the early, 

 tender shoots of plants or trees, tuberous roots, 

 swelling buds, and green grass. 



I once watched a grizzly for seven days after he 

 emerged from his hibernating- cave. His winter 

 quarters were near timber-line on Battle Moun- 

 tain, at an altitude of nearly twelve thousand feet. 

 The winter had been of average temperature, but 

 with scanty snow-fall. I saw him, by chance, just 

 as he left the den, on the first day of March. He 



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