64 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



Our Yosemite Black Bear exhibits two color phases. That is to say, 

 there are both 'black' and 'cinnamon' bears; but these two phases seem to 

 hold somewhat the same relation to one another as do brunettes and blonds 

 in the human species. A cinnamon-colored mother bear has been seen 

 with 2 coal-black cubs, and several cases have been reported in -which a 

 female has had one black and one cinnamon-colored cub in the same litter. 

 The proportion of cinnamon and black bears in the Yosemite region is not 

 known. One resident stated that it was 10 to 1 ; but our experience points 

 exactly in the opposite direction — we happened to see no cinnamon-colored 

 bears at all while in the region ! 



The Black Bear is an animal of the Transition and Canadian zones 

 and only rarely ranges above or below the limits of those two zones. So 

 far as known it occurs only on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada, 

 and in this region seldom goes above 9000 feet or below 2000 feet altitude. 

 On the west it was probably restricted in range in former times by the 

 presence of the bellicose Grizzly and it does not seem to have taken much 

 advantage of the disappearance of its larger congenor to increase its range, 

 while in the higher zones conditions are evidently not suitable for its 

 existence. 



The density of the bear population of the Yosemite National Park 

 varies widely from place to place. It has been estimated that at times 

 there have been 15 or 20 bears living in Yosemite Valley, the greater per- 

 centage of these being about the lower part of the Valley. On the trail 

 between Aspen Valley and Gentrys, a distance of 8 or 9 miles, the junior 

 author saw tracks of 5 or 6 different Black Bears in one day, October 19, 

 1915. But in other likely-looking places the animals are much scarcer, 

 or absent altogether. Perhaps there are, at the present time, somewhere 

 in the neighborhood of 125 bears in the 1124 square miles of territory 

 included within the Park, or about one individual for every 9 square miles 

 of territory. The mecca of the bears in the Yosemite region is the north- 

 central part of the Park, in Tiltill and Pleasant valleys, Kerrick Canon, 

 and on the slopes of Rancheria Mountain. Bears are said to be abundant 

 in each of these localities. In Pleasant Valley (north of the Tuolumne 

 River) the brushy slopes are said to be traversed in many directions by 

 their deeply worn trails. 



Most carnivorous animals are abroad and active throughout the year, 

 and if, in winter, the presence of heavy snow either directly or indirectly 

 restricts or cuts off their food supply they descend to lower altitudes. Such 

 is the case with the Mountain Coyote and the Mountain Lion. But the Black 

 Bear, depending as it does on plant life for so much of its food, is a striking 

 exception to this general rule and meets the situation in an entirely different 

 way. It hibernates, after the manner of some of the rodents. With the 



