Bear Strength

[brotherbear]

California Grizzly by Tracy I. Storer and Lloyd P. Tevis Jr. - 1955. 
Physical Features of the Grizzly
General Appearance: Among carnivorous mammals, the bears as a group are characterized by their stout form and large size. The head is proportionately small and rather acutely tapered, with less length of snout and greater over-all bulk toward the base of the skull, because of the powerful jaw muscles. The eyes seem rather diminutive for the general size of the animal, and the ears are short. The neck is of moderate length but is large in diameter, because of its thick musculature. The body is heavy in build and conspicuously tapered, and the feet are large. The tail is so short as scarcely to be visible in ordinary view.
Features that set the grizzly apart from other bears - except the brown bears - are the shoulder hump, the long front claws, the color of pelage, and the structure of the skull and teeth. As compared with the black bear, it has higher shoulders, a longer body, a straighter back, and lesser elevation of the haunches. Its head is narrower, and the snout and jaws are longer and less blunt. ( Mills, 1919 : 251. )
The Hump: Over the shoulders there is a characteristic hump, evident in both young and old grizzlies. The hump results from the size and placement of the muscle mass above the shoulder blades, according to Dr. Robert K. Enders, who has anatomized several Yellowstone grizzlies in recent years ( letter, Jan.11, 1953 ). There is no pad of gristle in that region as might be supposed, and the dorsal spines of the chest vertebrae are not longer, proportionately, than a black bear. Reply