34 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— FLESH-EATERS 



as if they were so many sheep. At the same 

 time, any visitor who is so unwise as to thrust a 

 hand between the bars within reach of the jaws 

 of any of the inmates is certain to be very se-' 

 verely bitten, — in playfulness rather than rage! 

 In their rough play these bears continually 

 bite each other, without inflicting injury; and 

 they do not appreciate the difference be- 

 tween a tender human hand and a tough, 

 hairy paw. 



Never offer a finger to a carnivorous animal, 

 unless you> really wish to have it bitten off. And 

 do not feed pea-nuts, candy, peaches, or tobacco 

 to animals in captivity. Jf you wish to kill any 

 of them, a gun is far more respectable, and also 

 more merciful. 



Structure and Habits of Bears. — Bears are 

 plantigrade, or flat-footed, animals, with long 

 claws that are not retractile. They live on the 

 ground, and eat all kinds of food, from green 

 grass to elk steaks. A few species only are able 

 to climb trees. In their food habits they are 

 om-niv'o-rous, and devour almost everything 

 they can chew, except wood and fohage. The 

 bears of the Alaskan coast eat great quantities 

 of marsh grass, and berries, but salmon is their 

 regular food. All bears eat succulent roots, 

 insect larvae, honey, frogs and also reptiles, 

 fish, and every other kind of flesh they can ob- 

 tain. In captivity they thrive best on a variety 

 of food consisting of stale bread, raw meat, 

 cooked meat, rice, raw fish, boiled potatoes, raw 

 carrots, and fruit. 



In the temperate zone, where the snow falls 

 to a depth of a foot or more, bears are unable 

 to procure food in winter, and pass that season 

 in a sort of sleep, or hibernation. With its 

 stomach and intestines empty, or nearly so, a 

 bear enters its den in December, curls up, 

 and with some of the functions of Nature en- 

 tirely suspended, sleeps until spring! In reality, 

 the creature lives upon the fat that has been se- 

 creted under its skin and elsewhere during the 

 summer days of good living. Ordinarily, bears 

 in captivity that are supplied with daily food, 

 do not hibernate in winter, but one cinnamon 

 bear which I knew personally, at Mandan, North 

 Dakota, dug a hole in the prairie, entered it on 

 December 17, and did not reappear until March 

 14, of the following year. In the tropics, bears 

 never hibernate. 



Naturally, the dens of hibernating bears are 

 of several kinds, accordng to conditions. In 

 the Adirondacks, of New York, the black bear 

 often chooses the base of a hollow tree, or digs 

 a cavity under the roots of a tree. In the " bad- 

 lands '' of the West, bears easily find warm 

 and comfortable dens in the wash-out holes of 

 rugged ravines. In the mountains, amongst 

 rocks, small caves are easily found. In Wash- 

 ington, "Grizzly" Adams caught "Lady Wash- 

 ington'' and "Ben Franklin" in a deep den 

 that had been dug by their mother in a steep 

 hillside. 



All the world over, two bear cubs usually con- 

 stitute a litter. In America, they are usually 

 born in January, and at birth are ridiculously 

 small, almost hairless, and as helpless as newly- 

 born mice. Although they grow rapidly during 

 the first year, they are seven years in reaching 

 full maturity. In captivity bears seldom breed 

 and rear their young, chiefly because of the lack 

 of satisfactory seclusion for the female. Mr. 

 Arthur B. Baker, who has recently inquired into 

 the habits of the American black bear in cap- 

 tivity, states that "at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, are 

 two specimens which regularly hibernate, and 

 also a pair, born in 1888, which, with the ex- 

 ception of three years, have had cubs each Jan- 

 uary (21st to 27th) up to 1903, all of which were 

 raised, excepting a few which met death by ac- 

 cident." 



Bears have bred in captivity in the zoological 

 gardens and parks of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, 

 Washington and New York, but few of the cubs 

 have been reared. 



The dimensions of a Russian brown bear 

 cub — a species that is an excellent understudy of 

 our silver-tip grizzly, and but slightly inferior 

 in size — was when two days old as follows: 

 Length, head and body, 9f inches, tail, i inch; 

 height, 5 inches, circumference of chest, 6f inches; 

 hind foot IJ inches by i inch; weight 15 

 ounces. This cub was born on January 17. 



All American bears, except the polar, show 

 great changes in the color of their pelage at dif- 

 ferent seasons of the year. In the late summer 

 the new pelage is darkest, but by the following 

 spring, the old coat has grown so much lighter 

 in color that the wearer seems like a different 

 individual. The shedding period is from May 

 1 to August 1. 



