Bears of the Pleistocene

[brotherbear]

( in my own words )... Life in Pleistocene North America greatly affected the attitude of the grizzly. The first brown bears began in Pleistocene China. Unlike both the Asiatic and American black bears, a grizzly does not escape danger by scampering up a tall tree. A grizzly has only two choices, run or fight. In most cases, his choice is fight. Although a grizzly can run 30 mph, most predators are some faster. All of Pleistocene planet Earth was teaming with mega-fauna, but Pleistocene North America was like Africa on steroids.
Imagine a mother grizzly with cubs to protect. She had to deal with grey wolves and dire wolves, scimitar cats and saber-toothed cats, giant jaguars and giant lions, male grizzlies and giant short-faced bears. And what were the chances of a three-year-old sub-adult grizzly his first season out on his own?
Probably a small percentage of Pleistocene grizzlies survived to become mature adults. Those that did had probably acquired a vicious wolverine-like attitude. And thus the tales told by the early American pioneers; preceding the modern rifle.   Reply