THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 



441 



ALASKAN BROWN BEAR (Ursus gyas 



and its relatives) 



(See frontispiece of this Magasiine for Ihe 

 illustration of this remarkable animal) 



The Alaskan brown bears form a group of 

 gigantic animals peculiar to North America 

 and limited to the coast and islands of Alaska, 

 from the head of Norton Sound to the Sitka 

 Islands. The group includes a number of spe- 

 cies, individuals of two of which, Ursus gyas, 

 of the Alaska Peninsula, and Ursus middeii- 

 dorffi, of Kodiak Island, sometimes attain a 

 weight of i.Soo pounds or more, and are not 

 only the largest existing bears, but are tlie 

 largest living carnivores in the world. They 

 can be likened only to the great cave bears, 

 which were the haunting terror of primitive 

 mankind during the "Old Stone Age" in Eu- 

 rojje. Brown bears still exist in Europe and 

 Asia, but they form a distinct group of much 

 smaller animals than the American species. 



The Alaskan brown bears vary much in color, 

 from a dull golden yellowish to a dusky brown, 

 becoming almost black in some species. In 

 color some of the darker species are iiidistin- 

 guishable from the great grizzlies, with which 

 in places they share their range ; but the rela- 

 tively shorter, thicker, and more strongly 

 curved claws on the front feet of the brown * 

 bears are distinctive. 



As a rule they are inoffensive giants and 

 take flight at the first sign of man. The taint 

 left by a man's recent track or the faintest 

 odor on the passing breeze, indicating the 

 proximity of their dreaded enemy, is enough 

 to start the largest of them in instant flight. 

 Instances are reported of their having attacked 

 people wantonly, but such cases are extremely 

 rare. When wounded or suddenly surprised 

 at close quarters, the instinct of self-defense 

 not infrequently incites them to attack their 

 enemy with furious energy. Many Indian and 

 white hunters have been killed or terribly 

 mauled by them in such encounters. At close 

 quarters their great size, strength, and activ- 

 ity — astonishing for such apparently clumsy 

 beasts — render them terrific antagonists. 



Some of the species occupy open, roUing, or 

 hilly tundras, and others live on the ste est 

 and most rugged mountain slopes amid gla- 

 ciers, rock slides, and perpetual snow-banks. 

 On the approach of winter all retreat to dry 

 locations, usually in the hills, where they dig 

 dens in the earth or seek other cover to which 

 they retire to hibernate, and here the young, 

 usually two or three in number, are born. 

 They usually emerge from hibernation in April 

 or early May and wander about over the snow- 

 covered hills and mountains. At this time their 

 dark forms and their great tracks in the snow 

 are so conspicuous that hunters have little 

 difliculty in finding them. 



Despite their size, brown bears devote much 

 of their time to hunting such game as mice, 

 ground squirrels, and marmots, which they dig 

 from their burrows with extraordinary ra- 

 pidity. During the salmon season, when the 



streams swarm with fish, bears frequent the 

 lowlands and make trails along the water- 

 courses, where they feed fat on this easy prey. 

 During the summer and fall these great car- 

 nivores have the strange habit of grazing like 

 cattle on the heavy grasslike growth of sedge 

 in the lowlaijid flats and benches, and also of 

 rating many other plants. 



Although Alaska was long occupied by the 

 Russians and lias been a part of our territory 

 since 1867, not until iSpS was there any defi- 

 nite public knowledge concerning the existence 

 of these bears, notwithstanding their size and 

 abundance. Since that time they have become 

 well known to sportsmen and others as one of 

 the wonders of the remarkable region they 

 occupy. Their comparatively limited and easily 

 accessible territory renders their future pre- 

 carious unless proper measures for their rea- 

 sonable protection are continued. They are 

 certain to be exterminated near settlements; 

 but there are ample wild and inhospitable areas 

 where they may range in all their original free- 

 dom for centuries to come, provided man per- 

 mits. 



AMERICAN BEAVER (Castor canadensis 



and its subspecies) 



When North America was first colonized, 

 •beavers existed in great numbers from coast 

 to coast, in almost every, locality where trees 

 and bushes bordered streams and lakes, from 

 near the Yukon Delta, in Alaska, and the Mac- 

 kenzie Delta, on the Arctic coast, south to the 

 mouths of the Colorado and the Rio Grande. 

 Although now exterminated from most of 

 their former range in the eastern United States, 

 they still occur in diminished numbers over 

 nearly all the remainder of their original ter- 

 ritory, even in the lower Rio Grande and the 

 delta of the Colorado. Their vertical distri- 

 bution extends from sea-level to above an alti- 

 tude of 9,000 feet. 



Beavers are heavily built, round-bodied ani- 

 mals, with 'powerful chisel-shaped front teeth, 

 short legs, fully webbed hind feet, and a flat, 

 scaly tail. They are covered with long, coarse 

 hairs overlying the short, dense, and silky 

 underfur to which beaver skins owe their value. 

 Their range covers the northern forested parts 

 of both Old and New Worlds. The American 

 species closely resembles in general appearance 

 its Old World relative, but is distinctly larger, 

 averaging 30 to 40 pounds in weight, but some- 

 times attaining a weight of more than 60 

 pounds. Owing to the different physical con- 

 ditions in its wide range, the American animal 

 has develope.d a number of geographic races. 



Beavers mate permanently and have from 

 two to five young each year. Their abundance 

 and the high value of their fur exercised an 

 unparalleled influence on the early exploration 

 and development of North America. Beaver 

 skins were 'the one ready product of the New 

 World which the merchants of Europe were 

 eager to purchase. As a consequence compe- 

 tition in the trade for these skins was the 

 source of strong and bitter antagonisms be- 



