THE GRIZZLY & THE BLACK BEAR 
’W’ NOWN generally throughout the west and north-west as the 
/ grisly, grissly or grizzly bear, it is doubtful whether Ursus 
V horribilis received its name from its grey or grizzled coat 
or from its fierce appearance. In the countries abutting on the 
Rocky Mountains it is more commonly known as “Old 
JSL Ephraim,” “ The Silvertip ” and the “ Roachback.” 
These bears are large, heavy and thickset animals, covered in winter 
with a thick pelage of dull colours ranging from black, dark brown, light 
brown, and yellowish grey to yellowish white. The legs are nearly always 
much darker than the rest of the coat. The Rocky Mountain grizzlies are 
of various colours, and a female may have a light and an almost black 
cub, whilst the old Californian grizzlies are almost black. The grizzlies 
of Northern British Columbia and Southern Alaska are very dark and 
uniform in their pelage, and usually have a well pronounced grey stripe 
extending from the chest across the upper part of the shoulder; legs almost 
black. They have five well -developed toes on each foot, with long curved 
claws. The hind feet are plantigrade, with not such long claws as on the 
fore feet. The tail is short. The dentition is as follows, with premolars 
sometimes wanting: 
The average grizzly bear male stands about 3§ to 4 feet at the shoulder 
—the female somewhat less in height — and from 6 to 7 feet in length 
from the nose to the tip of the tail. Pegged out skins are often 1 to 2f feet 
longer than this. Of course, many males of true grizzlies exceed this in 
size. Lewis and Clark mention one killed by them in Montana as 9 feet 
from the nose to the extreme end of tail, and one that I saw in Wyoming in 
1886 must have exceeded these measurements. 
There are several records of Rocky Mountain grizzlies of over 10 feet, 
and a skin exhibited at the Chicago Exhibition from Montana was said to 
have reached the colossal size of 12| to 13 feet. There is little doubt that 
the specimen was subjected to artificial stretching. The hind foot, from 
heel to point of claws, measures about 10 inches, and one of 12 inches 
would be considered a very large bear. 
It is certain that the great black Californian grizzlies of the past 
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