There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
01-31-2016, 05:44 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:45 AM by brotherbear )
The Beast That Walks Like Man by Harold McCracken.
( Theodore ) Roosevelt early recognized that they ( grizzlies ) are as diversified in individual temperaments as men; and he was one of the first to advance the belief that these mighty mammals have changed their attitude toward men and become far less bold, from learning that their human enemy with a gun in his hands is an entirely different proposition than their hairy ancestors had known, when there were only primitive Indians with stone-age weapons of offense.
"My own experience with bears tends to make me lay special emphasis upon their variation of temper," he wrote in 1897, in an article on "The Bear's Disposition," for the 'Book of the Boone and Crockett Club', of which he was one of the editors. "There are savage and cowardly bears, just as there are big and little ones; and sometimes these variations are very marked among bears of the same districts."
Roosevelt had a great deal to say on these important subjects, although he never quite made a thesis of it. As early as 1885, in his 'Hunting Trips of a Ranchman', he had this to say: "Nowadays these great bears are undoubtedly much better aware of the death-dealing power of men, and, as a consequence, are much less fierce, than was the case with their forefathers, who so unhesitatingly attacked the early Western travelers and explorers. Constant contact with rifle-carrying hunters, for a period extending over many generations of bear-life, has taught the grizzly by bitter experience that man is his undoubted overlord ... and this knowledge has become an hereditary characteristic; though if he is wounded or thinks himself cornered he will attack his foes with a headlong, reckless fury that renders him one of the most dangerous of wild beasts."
01-31-2016, 05:51 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:52 AM by brotherbear )
Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.
Black bears are forest creatures, evolved from Etruscan bears in the Old World. They crossed over into North America some 500,000 years ago. The grizzly bear is a much more recent product of evolution. The grizzly wandered over the Bering land bridge as recently as 40,000 to 12,000 years ago and encountered great open expanses of tundra, the rich periglacial of the Pleistocene. One of the consequences was that away from their ancestral forests in Asia and Europe, grizzlies became more aggressive in response to the treeless tundra, where mothers had to learn to protect their young from other bears, wolves, and several now-extinct Pleistocene carnivores. Defense became a good offense; this increased aggressiveness no doubt accounting for the bear's subspecies name, 'horribilis'.
01-31-2016, 05:53 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:54 AM by brotherbear )
Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.
Now I carried a gun only when I expected to live off the land or when I expected to run into people. Grizzlies seldom attacked people, and then it was usually only mothers protecting cubs. Still, I remembered with a chill at Bato reading in a sports magazine an account of two young women who were killed by two different grizzlies on the same night during 1967 in Glacier National Park. I had to remember that this animal was regarded as the most dangerous to man on the North American continent.
Once I watched a young bear mock-charge across a field, stampeding a herd of seven elk. Another time an adult grizzly circled three bull bison, closing to within thirty feet, until one of the buffalo lowered his head and thrust his horns toward the bear, who backed off thirty yards, then circled the bison again.
01-31-2016, 06:05 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 06:07 AM by brotherbear )
[color=#ffffff][size=small][font='Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The Grizzly by Enos Mills.
The Grizzly by Enos Mills.
One day in North Park, Colorado, I came upon the carcass of a cow that wolves had recently killed. It lay in a grassy opening surrounded by willow clumps. Knowing that bears were about, I climbed into the substantial top of a stocky pine near by, hoping that one would come to feast. A grizzly came at sundown.
When about 100 feet from the carcass the bear stopped. Standing erect with forepaws hanging loosely, he looked, listened, and carefully examined the air with his nose. The grizzly is eternally vigilant; he appears to feel that he is ever pursued. As the air was not stirring, I felt that he could not scent me in my tree-top perch. It may be, however, that he faintly caught my lingering scent where I had walked round the opening. After scouting for a minute or two with all his keen senses, he dropped on all fours and slowly, without a sound, advanced toward the willow clumps.
In places of possible ambush the grizzly is extremely cautious. He is not a coward, but he does not propose to blunder into trouble. When within thirty feet of the waiting feast this bear redoubled his precautions against surprise and ambush by walking around the carcass. Then, slipping stealthily to the edge of a thick willow clump, he flung himself into it with a fearful roar, instantly leaping out on the other side ready to charge anything that might start from the willows; but nothing started. Standing erect, tense in every muscle, he waited a moment in expectant attitude.Then he charged, roaring, through another willow clump, and another, until he had investigated every possible place of concealment near the carcass. Not finding an enemy, he at last went to the carcass.
When he had feasted for a few minutes, he suddenly rose, snarled, and sniffed along my trail for a few yards. He uttered a few growling threats. That a grizzly cannot climb a tree is a fact in natural history which gave me immense satisfaction. But the bear returned to the carcass and finished his feast. Finally, having raked grass and trash over the remains, he doubled back on his trail and faded into the twilight.
01-31-2016, 06:08 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 06:10 AM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly by Enos Mills.
It cannot be stated too strongly that the grizzly is not a coward. Every drop of blood in his body is courageous. He has no fear. He is intelligent enough to know that man is a dangerous enemy - that it is almost suicidal for a bear to expose himself to man. There is no animal of the wilds whom he avoids. Man, with field-glasses, dogs, and a rifle that will kill at a distance of a mile, are odds too great for him. He wisely endeavors to avoid man, but if he cannot do so, when the fight comes he exhibits one hundred per cent of courage and efficiency.
Only a few generations ago the grizzly was instinctively courageous, never avoiding a foe, with courage he met every issue, almost invariably coming out triumphant. But when man is the issue, the grizzly, seeing more than one move ahead, has the wisdom and the greater courage to suppress the old instinctive trait, for its use would be ineffective.
The ability to comprehend a new situation or incident and readjust one's self to it is the act of an open and a thinking mind. The food, religion, politics, and personal habits of an individual are changed slowly and with difficulty. Progress is constantly being held back by old customs - the inability of the race to form new habits meeting new conditions. Many species of extinct animals have perished because of over-specialization. "Leave your prejudice at home" was the best advice I received just prior to a trip to Europe. Prejudice and its allied mental conditions are binding and delaying. The grizzly does not allow old prejudice to prevent his exploring for new information, and he is ever ready for something new in his environment.
In a generation or two the grizzly has become expert in eluding the pursuer; he rivals the fox in concealing his trail, in confounding the trailer and escaping with his life. That he has developed this trait since coming in contact with the white man and the repeating rifle - out of necessity - there can be no doubt. Formerly, the rightful monarch of the wilds through superiority, he roamed freely about, indifferent as to where he went or whether or not he was seen. He has been wise enough to readjust himself to the evolutionary and revolutionary forces introduced by man. The king of the wilderness has survived through retreat; he has become the master of strategy. Instinct hardly accounts for this swift evolution. The readjustment - avoiding man - does not indicate cowardice; it indicates brains. In the warfare of existence, in changing, exacting environments, the grizzly bear has risen triumphant.
01-31-2016, 06:11 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 06:12 AM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly by Enos Mills.
But is the grizzly bear ferocious? All the first-hand evidence I can find says he is not. Speaking from years of experience with him my answer is emphatically, "No!" Nearly everyone whom a grizzly has killed went out with the special intention of killing a grizzly. The majority of people who hold the opinion that he is not ferocious are those who have studied him without attempting to kill him; while the majority who say that he is ferocious are those who have killed or attempted to kill him.
01-31-2016, 06:13 AM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 06:15 AM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly by Enos Mills.
*Note; a few interesting quotes on the topic of grizzly aggression...
Muir says: "There are bears in the woods, but not in such numbers nor of such unspeakable ferocity as town-dwellers imagine, nor do bears spend their lives in going about the country like the devil, seeking whom they may devour. Oregon bears, like most others, have no liking for man either as meat or as society; and while some may be curious at times to see what manner of creature he is, most of them have learned to shun people as deadly enemies."
William H. Wright says: "We know now that the grizzly is chock-full of curiosity, and that one of his habits is to follow up any trail that puzzles or interests him, be it of man or beast. This trait has been noted and misconstrued by many ... So often have I seen this curiosity and proved it to be innocent that I have no fear whatever of these animals when indulging in this weakness of theirs. Time and again, I have allowed one to approach within a few yards of me, and no calm observer who had watched a bear defying his own caution to satisfy his own inquisitiveness could mistake the nature of his approach."
James Capen Adams says: "He did not invite combat."
Dr. W.T. Hornaday says: "I have made many observations on the temper of the Grizzly Bear, and am convinced that naturally the disposition of this reputedly savage creature is rather peaceful and good-natured. At the same time, however, no animal is more prompt to resent an affront or injury, or punish an offender. The Grizzly temper is defensive, not aggressive; and unless the animal is cornered, or thinks he is cornered, he always flees from man."
Audubon says: "While in the neighborhood where the grizzly bear may possibly be hidden, the excited nerves will cause the heart's pulsations to quicken if but a startled ground squirrel run past, the sharp click of the lock is heard and the rifle hastily thrown to the shoulder before a second of time has assured the hunter of the trifling cause of his emotion."
Edward Umfreville says: "their nature is savage and ferocious, their power dangerous, and their haunts to be guarded against."
Sir Alexander MacKenzie says: "The Indians entertain great apprehension of this kind of a bear, which is called the grisly bear, and they never venture to attack it except in a party of at least three or four."
Henry M. Brackenridge says: "This animal is the monarch of the country which he inhabitates. The African lion or the Bengal tiger are not more terrible than he. He is the enemy of man and literally thirsts for human blood. So far from shunning, he seldom fails to attack and even to hunt him. The Indians make war upon these ferocious monsters with ceremonies as they do upon a tribe of their own species, and, in the recital of their victories, the death of one of them gives the warrior greater renown than the scalp of an enemy. He possesses an amazing strength, and attacks without hesitation and tears to pieces the largest buffalo."
01-31-2016, 04:12 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 04:13 PM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly Almanac by Robert H. Busch.
Males will also fight with other males over females, and many old male grizzlies have deep scars on their muzzles from such encounters. When challenging another male, grizzlies often use what has been termed a "cowboy walk," in which they walk on stiff bowlegs toward each other with lowered head and angry intentions. The posing often deters a fight before it begins, but when an actual tussle occurs, serious injuries can occur.
Occasionally, the fights are fatal. The autopsy of one such unfortunate bear, who obviously lost in his fight, revealed 89 puncture wounds, a wide hole in the chest, broken ribs, a broken shoulder, a broken nose, a dislocated neck, and a broken skull. Those males who survive such battles pass on their genes to the next generation.
01-31-2016, 05:15 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:16 PM by brotherbear )
The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.
In an attack, bears charge on all four legs, some in great, leaping bounds. They do not stand bipedal in an attack, unless in a final, close-quarters "reaching" action. They do not "bear hug" but strike, claw, and bite. The most effective method of attack is with a crushing blow of a forepaw; they have incredible forepaw speed; a single strike is so powerful that it can kill an adult elk, caribou, or moose. The bear "... strikes around with its paws," according to Frederick Drimmer in 'The Animal Kingdom. "The terrific strength of its weighty arms drives the claws deep into the body of its victims."
"When hunting large game, bears may stalk catlike, then run the prey down with a sudden spurt and kill it with blows of the forepaws and bites through the neck," describes Paul Shepard and Barry Sanders in 'The sacred Paw'.
Scientists, victims, and other observers describe various actions of the species: Brown bear: uses speed to run down prey; charges in great bounds ( while uttering a deep roar ); rears up in fight to grasp head or neck with teeth; swings powerful forepaws, with enormous body strength behind them.
01-31-2016, 05:17 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:18 PM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly Almanac by Robert H. Busch.
Almost all bears love carrion, but individual bears sometimes develop highly individual food preferences. One Yellowstone grizzly preferred to kill live elk, distaining the numerous elk carcasses available to it.
Another grizzly's kill was once witnessed by a Yellowstone park ranger. The bear had surprised a herd of elk crossing the Madison River and killed one of the cows with a single mighty blow to its head with a front paw. The adult elk was killed instantly, the ranger said, in "an explosion of brains, blood, and bone fragments." Young fawns and calves are more common grizzly fare.
However, biologist Charles Jonkel, who studied black bears, polar bears, and grizzlies, and has extensive experience comparing the three bruins, says that grizzlies are not adept at hunting. "Most grizzly bears don't even know how to catch elk, deer, and such. They can become very good predators of those animals, but most of them don't have the foggiest idea how to do it," Jonkel says ( quoted in Hummel, 1991 ).
01-31-2016, 05:20 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:22 PM by brotherbear )
Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
Most competent writers on the grizzly agree that he is seldom the aggressor, but when wounded, closely pressed, or surprised, he becomes a juggernaut, springing to kill with all his power. There are various views on just how the grizzly attacks his foe. Some say the bear strikes for the face or head and bites the foe in these areas. Others state that the bear will hold the victim with one arm, while clawing and striking with the other and biting at the same time. W.H. Wright says he never saw a grizzly attack in an upright position or open his mouth as he charged. There may be exceptions to this, as in the instance of Old Ephraim. The standing bear probably assumes that position in order to better investigate a situation. There are reports of bears hugging and biting, or striking at the side of the head and biting when they can get a hold. There are enough stories of unfortunate men whose faces have been disfigured in this manner to support the idea that the head is a favorite target for the bear.
Yet I was much bothered on this point because of the conflicting opinions held by those who should know, until a young naturalist at Yellowstone Park, Lowell Biddulph, enlightened me. While he was on an observation trip in early spring, when there was still considerable snow on the ground, he used as headquarters a cabin near Dunraven Pass; it was built on a hillside with a window on the downhill side. He was in the custom of throwing table scraps out of the window. On an evening of full moonlight, when he could see clearly, a large grizzly bear came to eat the food. It was soon joined by another large grizzly. They began to quarrel over the food. Both rose on their hind legs and struck each other on the head, bit at the face and neck, and threw arms around each other and hugged and bit at each other's throat.
This account convinces me that a grizzly bear will use whatever means he can employ to best his antagonist and will, upon occasion, hug. To do this he stands. The strength of the bear's arms makes a very effective vise. Some of the most serious wounds hunters receive were made by a bear reaching up with his hind foot and tearing clothes and flesh from the victim, who was held by the bear's forearms. A curious thing about wounds inflicted by bears, which Hornaday and others have noted, is that bear bites and scratches almost never produce blood poisoning. Inquiry among hunters and park rangers, as well as doctors, supports this statement. This is strange, for the same kinds of wounds from wolves or lions frequently result in blood poisoning; it is all the more remarkable because bears like to scavenge garbage and stale meat, carrion even, and they dig and scratch in the dirt.
01-31-2016, 05:22 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:25 PM by brotherbear )
Here is yet another account of a grizzly administering a "bear hug" ... from Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
The next moment a growl, so deep and fierce that it echoed through the cave, startled me to my feet; and I turned to find myself closely confronted by an enormous grizzly bear, the most fearful animal of the American wilds. How ferociously his eyes glared on me from under his shaggy brows, as he opened them from the new-fallen sleep, which the warm beams of my fire had dispelled, and how convulsively his huge jaws worked and quivered in eager longing to devour me! Ere I had time to snatch the revolver from my belt the gigantic beast rose toweringly above me, and opening his enormous paws, pressed me to him in close embrace - so close that my arms were pinned to my sides, and my very bones seemed to crack in that viselike hug. I believe I screamed with the sudden agony, but the sound was lost in the deep-mouthed growls, like muttering thunder, that filled the cave.
Weak and exhausted as I was, I felt myself unequal to cope with the powerful beast in whose grasp I was; but even if life were of little worth, to a solitary such as I, this mode of death was so horrible, that it nerved me to efforts beyond my ordinary strength, and somehow my hand managed to creep up towards my belt. But ere I could reach the weapon I sought, a movement of the bear had loosened it, and firing a single barrel, it fell to the ground among our feet. The report echoing through the cave alarmed my adversary; and with a more threatening growl, he clasped me closer, and for the first time his claws penetrated my clothes, inflicting terrible wounds.
But my hand had met an unexpected friend in my knife, which I had unwittingly thrust into my belt, and with it I inflicted several random stabs on my antagonist. This, however, seemed only to add to my own suffering; for, maddened by the pain, the bear threw himself upon the ground and rolled over me in his agony, while his huge teeth munched and tore at the blanket which a fortunate fit of toothache had made me wrap round my head. Not that, nor any other earthly matter seemed likely to concern me long, for the strength of excitement was already passing, a srange murmur was mingling in my ears with the fierce growls of my enemy; and the pain of his claws changed into a vague yet universal agony as unconsciousness and life were being pressed out in the terrible hug.
Suddenly a sound echoed through the cave, so sharp that it reached even my failing faculties, and appeared to thrill likewise on the nerves of my foe, to judge by the increased emphasis of his embrace; but the next instant he relaxed his hold, and sank helpless on the ground beside me, his almost insensible victim.
My first sensation as I revived were of burning pains all over my body, and exceeding cold in my hands and face; I opened my eyes to find a young Indian bending over me, and rubbing me with snow.
Passing near the cave, he had seen my fire, and heard the report of my revolver and had hastened to see what was the matter, just in time to save me from a miserable death and a revolting sepulcher.
01-31-2016, 05:38 PM( This post was last modified: 01-31-2016, 05:39 PM by brotherbear )
The Grizzly by Enos A. Mills.
The Grizzly by Enos A. Mills.
The grizzly is exceptionally expert and agile with his paws. With either fore paw he can strike like a sledge-hammer or lift a heavy weight. He boxes or strikes with lightning-like rapidity. Most grizzlies are right-handed; that is, the right fore paw is most used. If a small object is to be touched or moved, he will daintily use but one claw. The black bear would use the entire paw.
Some of the skills and adaptations which make the grizzly bear an elite survivor are: His sense of smell. Few animals can compete with a bear's sense of smell. Among terrestrial animals the elephant might be the bear's greatest competition. His omnivore diet. A bear might find a feast where other predators or herbivores would starve. His ability to adapt to a wide variety of environments. His strong homing capability. His legendary endurance to injury. His intelligence. The measuring of intelligence is not an exact science but I would place bears within the top 5 groups of intelligent animals; whales and dolphins, old-world monkeys and apes, Corvus ( crows and ravens ), elephants, and bears. His great strength. Like intelligence, the measuring of strength is not an exact science. However, some believe that pound-for-pound, bears are the strongest of terrestrial mammals. His fighting ability. A hungry and determined grizzly can fight his way past another predator to a carcass. His ability to sleep through the harsh winter months. For an animal the size of a bear, this is possibly his most accomplished survival skill.
02-02-2016, 06:46 PM( This post was last modified: 02-02-2016, 06:47 PM by brotherbear )
The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.
Bears possess enormous strength, regardless of species or size. The strength of a bear is difficult to measure, but observations alone ( bears moving rocks, carrying animal carcasses, removing large logs from the side of a cabin, and digging cavernous holes ) are indicative of incredible power.
A study team at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, found that a grizzly bear could treat a 700-pound dumpster like a beach ball, while it took a minimum of two persons just to tip the dumpster. The team concluded the strength of a calm grizzly bear is two-and-a-half times that of a human.
No animal of equal size is as powerful. A bear may kill a moose, an elk, or a deer by a single blow to the neck with a powerful foreleg, then lift the carcass in its mouth and carry it for great distances. "The strength ... is in keeping with his size," describes Ben East in 'Bears'. "He is very powerfully built, a heavy skeleton overlaid with thick layers of muscle as strong as rawhide rope. He can hook his long, grizzly-like front claws under a slab of rock that three grown men could not lift, and flip it over effortlessly... A brown bear took a thousand-pound steer a half mile up an almost vertical mountain, much of the way through alder tangles with trunks three or four inches thick."
Strength and power are not only attributes of large bears, but also of the young. The author observed a yearling American black bear searching for insects turn over a flat-shaped rock that was between 310 and 325 pounds "backhanded" with a foreleg. The bear was captured the following day in a management action and was found to weigh only 120 pounds.
Survival Skills of Bears
