12 MISC. PUBLICATION 195, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



of the Glacier Bay National Monument, an area of 1,820 square miles 

 north of Icy Straits; Kruzof and Partofshikof Islands, 187 square 

 miles near Sitka; and an area of 1.910 square miles adjoining the 

 Glacier Bay National Monument. The last named was designated 

 as a brown- and grizzly-bear refuge by the Secretary of Agriculture 

 in March 1933. 



Many Goyernment field workers, hunters, and other outdoor men 

 who yisit parts of the brown-bear country are of the opinion that 

 brown bears are well distributed oyer the range, that the stocking in 

 most places is heavy, and that, with the exception of a few localities. 

 the present bear population is in excess of that of 15 or 20 years ago, 

 when the sale of pelts was permitted. 



RELATIONSHIPS AND HABITS 



Naturalists have differentiated many species and subspecies of 

 brown bears throughout this wide range. Admiralty Island is well 

 represented in the collections, and the following five species have 

 been recognized, and listed by Merriam in his monograph : x Ursus 

 shirasi, U. insularis, U. mirabilis, U. neglectus, and U. eulophus. 

 Merriam stated that each of these has related species on the adjacent 

 mainland. 



The classification of the Admiralty Island bears was made largely 

 on cranial character and measurements, and so far as known no sat- 

 isfactory method exists of distinguishing the species in the field by 

 general observation. The color differs among the various animals 

 from a light to a deep chocolate brown, and there is likewise great 

 variation in size of the head and of the whole animal. The Admiralty 

 Island animals are apparently considerably smaller at maturity than 

 many of those in more westerly parts of Alaska. 



The animals spend at least 5 months in hibernation and generally 

 emerge about May 1 in an average season, although some individuals 

 may be seen early in April. During the first 2 weeks, or until the 

 pads of the feet have become toughened,, the animals do not travel 

 extensively, and are frequently seen on the soft mud flats and grass- 

 lands at the heads of the bays. 



The bears have no natural enemies. 



After the winter hibernation, the food at first consists principally 

 of winter-killed deer carcasses found on or near the beaches, and the 

 roots of herbs and grass. As the spring advances and the snow 

 retreats the animals drift to the slides and other openings above 

 timber line. They spend the early summer largely in the high coun- 

 try, but by the middle of July or the first of August the great major- 

 ity descend to the salmon-spawning streams to feed on fish. For a 

 month or 6 weeks they bed on the lower timbered slopes and make 

 frequent excursions to the nearby streams, largely at night or in the 

 early morning. At intervals they become surfeited with fish and 

 return for a few days to a vegetable diet, largely of skunk cabbage. 

 Early in September they start drifting away from the streams to 

 the blueberry patches in the scrub timber and muskeg areas and on 

 the higher treeless slopes, where they remain until it is time to 

 hibernate. 



1 Merriam,, C. H. review of the grizzly and big brown bears of north america. 

 U.S.Dept. Agr., North Amer. Fauna no. 41, 136 pp.. illus. 1918. 



