196 The Grizzly Bear 



killed by others, that were extremely old. Their teeth were 

 worn down to the gums, and many of them decayed and 

 broken off, and there was every other indication that the 

 animals were full of years; and yet these bears would not 

 have tipped the scales at more than two hundred and fifty 

 or three hundred pounds. Again, the finest and largest 

 specimens of the grizzly I have ever seen appeared to be 

 in the prime of life. Their teeth were white as ivory, and 

 they were the personification of strength, size, and vigorous 

 bearhood. 



Unfortunately, the weight of the grizzly has been more 

 a matter of guess work than of knowledge, as few of them 

 have been reliably weighed. Some that have been raised 

 in captivity have, at their death, been carefully weighed; 

 but none of these have tipped the scales at any such 

 weight as some old hunters have claimed for the animal. 



Dr. Hornaday says, regarding the weights of grizzlies 

 raised in captivity: "The largest grizzly of which I ever 

 have had an authentic record is the one which lived and 

 died in the Lincoln Park Menagerie, Chicago, and which 

 was weighed to oblige Mr. G. O. Shields. Its weight was 

 eleven hundred and fifty-three pounds. That is, I am 

 certain, the heaviest record for any grizzly whose weight 

 was ever ascertained by scales." 



The largest grizzly that Lewis and Clark killed, or at 

 least the largest they mention, they "conjectured" would 

 weigh a thousand pounds. This bear measured, as they 

 state, nine feet from the end of his nose to the root of his 

 tail, and a bear of these dimensions is a very large animal. 

 Judging from my own observations, I should say that they 

 underestimated, rather than overestimated, its weight. 



