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. If 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 foliage. 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, 9J inches, tail, £ inch; 
height, 5 inches, circumference of chest, 6f inches; 
hind foot If inches by f 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. 
