4o6 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



merit an alertness and a spirit of independence that instantly com- 

 mands respect. The tourist's conversation follows the promptings 

 of his heart, and bear talk flows from his lips far of tener than 

 an}^ regarding the geysers or other inanimate objects. 



The accent is on bears, rather than other animals, only because 

 the bears are seen more frequently and are easier to scrape ac- 

 quaintance with, either along the highway or in the vicinitv- of the 

 camps and hotels. Almost any species of large mammal is more 

 alluring to the visitor in Yellowstone Park than even the geysers, 

 notwithstanding the wonderful and varied displaAS of these natural 

 gushers. 



It is doubtful whether the men who fifty 3ears ago set aside 

 a v.ildemess square about the ge3^sers for their official protection 

 ever dreamed that these four boundar}' lines would one da}^ en- 

 close the greatest game refuge in the country. Toda}^ Yellow- 

 stone Park harbors more big game animals and in greater variety 

 than an}- other park or wild Hfe sanctuar}' in the United States. 

 And yet unfortimateh" its present boundaries and its altitude are 

 such that it is almost impossible as an all-the-Aear-round game 

 refuge. It was an accidental circumstance, a geographical provi- 

 dence, that some of our big game mammals original!)- ranged in 

 summer in the great geyser region and were thus ' allowed to live 

 their lives and reproduce their kind in relative seclusion. It is, 

 however, a strange paradox which compels us to stance and freeze 

 some of these game animals annually in order to preserve the 

 remainder. For the Yellowstone is actually a cold storage Park 

 for six months of ever\- year. From December to late April or 

 ^lay it is covered by a heaAy mantle of snow which chiUs the 

 grazing animals and buries the vegetation on which the}^ depend 

 for sustenance. 



The bears have parth* solved the problem of winter b}- hibernat- 

 ing; but no bear can endure hibernation more than five or six 

 months, and the first of April usually marks the end of his winter 

 sleep. About that time Bruin emerges into the white world of 

 early spring with an aching and hollow interior, and straightxA-ay 

 visits his favorite hotel, which he finds closed, silent, and absolutely 

 lacking in hospitaht}-. He must either feed on the carcasses of elk 

 and other game that have succumbed to the cold or lack of forage 

 during the winter, or else wander doAvn and out of the park to 

 the snowless lower countr\- where he can dig roots or secure small 

 animals. A bear's Hfe is not too easv in the Yellowstone, even 



