142 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Baird describes the general color of grizzly bears as varying 

 from a nearly uniform dark brown with the tips of the hairs 

 lighter, or brownish yellow, to a condition in which there is a 

 dark blackish dorsal stripe, and the sides of the body are pale 

 brownish yellow, bordered by a dark stripe along the flanks. 

 The limbs are generally black or dark brown; head and belly 

 yellowish, and a tinge of hoary over the shoulders and sides. 

 Claws long and nearly straight, those on the fore feet about 4 

 inches or more long. Skull long, the length of nasals exceeding 

 the width across last premolars. First lower molar with the two 

 posterior cusps on about the same transverse plane, and with 

 a small accessory cusp or two on the inner side between the 

 anterior and posterior cusps. Weight upward of 1,200 pounds, 

 but males are larger than females; "in some the disparity in 

 size is very remarkable ... in a few cases the difference 

 is slight" (Merriam). Bear skulls undergo a series of changes 

 from early life to old age and in most species do not attain 

 their mature form until seven or more years of age (Merriam) . 

 Baird states that the largest specimens are "from six to seven 

 feet" in total length. The total length of skull runs to 14 or 

 15 inches. 



In a general way the former range of the grizzly extended 

 from the eastern edge of the Great Plains in about the longi- 

 tude of the one-hundredth meridian, westward to the Pacific 

 coast in northern Lower California, thence south to Durango, 

 Mexico, and northward to the southern and central parts of 

 the Alaskan Peninsula and the Arctic coast. In the barren- 

 ground region west of Hudson Bay it is represented by the 

 so-called barren-ground grizzly. Baird, in 1857, wrote that 

 "it appears first to occur on the Missouri, above Fort Pierre 

 [in South Dakota], and becomes more and more abundant 

 higher up on the Missouri, and especially on the Yellowstone; 

 thence to the Rocky Mountains, which it inhabits throughout 

 its entire extent in the United States . . . To the north 

 it extends far into the British possessions, and southward into 

 Mexico." It is safe to say that at the present time the grizzly 

 bear is extinct over much of this area and survives only in 

 some of the national parks or in wilderness regions. 



In their general habits grizzly bears like somewhat open, 

 rugged country with scattering thick growth where they may 

 take shelter. Their food includes a wide range of both animal 



