The Historic Grizzly

[brotherbear]

About the size of the grizzly... From the book: THE BEAR - History of a Fallen King - by Michel Pastoureau... I know that the European brown bear was much larger and far more ferocious than those "honey-eaters" living there today. There was a war all over ancient Europe against the bear that lasted for roughly 1,000 years! They were nearly exterminated. This war ended between 1000 AD and 1200 AD.
The grizzlies of North America had a similar experience much more recently in history. Before the California gold rush which coincided with the invention of the breech-load rifle, the grizzlies of the American West were larger and more ferocious than their inland grizzly descendents living today. The collecting of trophy skulls by the "Boone and Crockett Club" did not begin until long after those old historic grizzlies were slaughtered. The largest grizzly bear skull on record is from one of those old bears that was found ( not killed ) by a hunter.
It is a shame that we cannot, from a discreet distance, study these animals in their natural environment with the exclusion of humans. How awesome they must have been - the great California grizzly, the old bison hunters of the American prairie, and the champion of the ancient Roman arena, the European brown bear. Reply