Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

California Grizzly by Tracy I. Storer and Lloyd P. Tevis, Jr.

The adversaries that the grizzlies met in the arenas were not the stolid, domesticated Herefords commonly seen on the California range today but were "the lithe, thick necked Spanish bulls, sharp of horn, quick of foot, always ready for a fight, and with a charge like that of a catapult" ( Kingsley, 1920 : 22 ). These bulls, combining weight, speed, agility, and sharpness of horn with bad temper, were exceedingly dangerous to both man and bear. Wister ( 1937 : 127 ) called the wild Spanish bull the noblest game in America, with possibly the single exception of the ... California grizzly. He knows no fear, and shrinks from no enemy, having been accustomed all his life to fighting his rivals and other formidable animals, and when surrounded by his family is always spoiling for a fight. He will come a mile for his enemy, and will as lief charge a hundred men as one.

Our tabulations of fights results during the Spanish period show that the grizzlies most often triumphed. Robinson ( 1846 : 105 ), however, thought that a strong bull could cope with two bears in an afternoon; Garner ( 1847b : 187 ) said that "an old mountain bull" was sure to be the victor; and Gibbs ( 1853 : 111 ) stated that the conflicts usually ended with "the death of both parties." Leonard ( 1904 : 214 - 217 ) wrote that "the bear is much the strongest, but it has no chance of avoiding the thrusts of the bull, in consequence of the smallness of the pen; but in an open field, a grizzly bear will conquer a bull in a few moments."

In contrast to these statements, Wilkes ( 1844 : 212 ) had the positive opinion that bears always won regardless of the size and temper of their adversaries. Bancroft ( 1886, 2 : 434 ) cites a record of a bear that killed three bulls. Pattie ( Flint, 1930 : 304 ) observed a contest in which fourteen bulls were conquered by five bears. Bell ( 1930 : 108 - 113 ) tells of a grizzly that killed three bulls one after the other and then was overcome by a fourth. Reply