86 



YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES 



Yosemite where they have stepped in the 

 same tracks as their predecessors, until a 

 series of alternating depressions nearly 

 six inches in depth have developed. 



Other signs left by bears, besides foot- 

 prints, consist of bear wallows, rotten 

 logs and stumps ripped apart in the 

 search for insects, turned-over rocks, 

 droppings, and bear trees. 



These bear trees are of interest, par- 

 ticularly when the trees happen to be 

 quaking aspen, for they permanently re- 

 cord the marks left by bears. Arriving 

 at such a tree, the bear usually stops, 

 and, standing erect on its hind legs, 

 reaches up as high as possible, biting and 

 scratching the tree. The reason for this 

 action is not definitely known, although 

 writers have suggested that it may be 

 some type of "social register." 



The black bear, being the largest mam- 

 mal in the park, has practically no nat- 

 ural enemies. The largest bear is generally 

 the boss of his domain until a still larger 

 one comes along to displace him. A fe- 

 male with cubs will sometimes stand 



against a larger bear, but, as a rule, the 

 smaller bear gives ground without en- 

 gaging in any serious battle. 



Bens have the greatest respect for 

 skunks. On many occasions, our natural- 

 ists have observed skunks repeatedly re- 

 fuse to be outbluffed by a bear. Gener- 

 ally, the bear gives way after a few half- 

 hearted attempts to frighten away the 

 skunk, and allows it to take over the 

 remains of its unfinished meal. 



The name "Yoscmite" was derived 

 from the Mi wok Indian word for grizzly 

 bear. One of the earliest accounts of 

 grizzlies in Yosemite is by "Grizzly 

 Adams," who captured and trained griz- 

 zly cubs for his traveling animal show. 

 Adams visited here in the spring of 18 54, 

 and, according to his diary, discovered 

 a grizzly bear on the "headwaters of the 

 Merced Rivet." 



The last grizzly known to have been 

 killed in Yosemite was shot "about 1895" 

 at Crescent Lake. The skin of this bear 

 is now in the Museum of Vertebrate 

 Zoology at the University of California. 



InJiscri 



intm>; exterminated the Krt7.7l) in ( ilifornia. 



