158 FUR FACTS 



eating a cub that had been left fastened by a chain near a camp; and 

 in one instance I came upon a grizzly that had just killed a female 

 and had eaten her two cubs. She had been caught in a steel trap 

 set by a trapper, and her two cubs were with her. The male, finding 

 her in this predicament, had doubtless attacked the cubs, and when, 

 hampered as she was by the trap and clog, she had attempted to 

 defend them, he had killed her too." 



A female grizzly with young is one of the most dangerous animals 

 in the world. She will allow no other bear of either sex to approach 

 either her or them, and this invariable attitude of her fully accounts, 

 to my mind, for her failure to breed while the young are still with her. 

 But the black bear mother is not only a comparatively inoffensive 

 animal at all times, but she seems to have no such lasting distrust 

 of other members of her own species. 



The black bear is described as omniverous. Literally, that means 

 that he eats everything ; and this comes pretty near to being literally 

 true for he has democratic tastes, a magnificent appetite, and nothing 

 much to do between meals. Technically, however, the term means 

 that the black bear is both carnivorous and herbivorous; that he 

 eats flesh like a wolf, grass like an ox, fish like an otter, bugs like a 

 hen, and berries like a bird. In short he eats pretty much every- 

 thing he can get, and pretty generally all he can get of it. 



One would naturally imagine that so thorough-going a feeder 

 would emerge from his long and complete winter fast terribly hungry 

 and ready for a hearty breakfast. But this is not so. Indeed, when 

 we stop to think of it, we can see that even a bear's cast-iron con- 

 stitution and digestive apparatus would hardly stand such treatment. 

 Examination of the stomach and intestines of a bear killed just as 

 it came out in the spring, not only found them entirely empty but 

 also flattened from disuse. These organs, have, therefore, to be 

 treated with some consideration and coaxed back gradually to the 

 performance of their accustomed functions. Shipwrecked sailors, 

 rescued at the point of starvation, have to be forced by their friends 

 to go slowly until their stomachs again get the habit of digestion; 

 and while bears have no friends to do them a like service, they have 

 practiced long fasting for so many generations that they have de- 

 veloped instincts that serve the purpose. 



When they first come out of the winter's den they wander around 

 for a day or so showing little or no inclination for food. Then they 

 make their way down to where the snow is gone and the early vege- 

 tation has begun to sprout, and eat sparingly of the tender grass 



