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| The American grizzly bear and cubs. |
There are several kinds of bears to be found in America, but the most famous is the Grizzly. Through some parts of the States hunters call all bears grizzlies, but it seems now that the only true grizzly is found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.
All summer long the bear is busy eating until it gets very fat, and then when winter comes it makes a burrow in the ground, very cunningly hidden, and quietly goes to sleep from November to April. When it gets up it looks very miserable and thin from having had nothing to eat, and all the gloss has gone off its fur. At this time it is very fierce indeed. The bear hunts for food, and in a short time it begins to grow fat again, and the skin no longer looks several sizes too large for its owner.
The spring is a bad time for bear-hunting, firstly because its fur is not in good condition, and secondly because it is too dangerous an antagonist. Should a grizzly's anger become aroused by a wound, it will attack men and horses without discrimination. It lays about itself with its huge paws, while its claws will smash through almost any substance, as if they were made of steel. So tenacious of life is the grizzly bear that, unless it is wounded in some vital spot it will fight on, although its body may be riddled with bullets.
All California hunters fear the grizzly, and with good reason, for no other animal on the American Continent matches it for size and strength.
Men who have traveled all over the world believe that a grizzly is more than a match for either a lion or a tiger, in spite of their superior agility.
A full-grown male grizzly frequently weighs as much as fourteen hundred pounds, but the female weighs a good deal less.
All summer long the bear is busy eating until it gets very fat, and then when winter comes it makes a burrow in the ground, very cunningly hidden, and quietly goes to sleep from November to April. When it gets up it looks very miserable and thin from having had nothing to eat, and all the gloss has gone off its fur. At this time it is very fierce indeed. The bear hunts for food, and in a short time it begins to grow fat again, and the skin no longer looks several sizes too large for its owner.
The spring is a bad time for bear-hunting, firstly because its fur is not in good condition, and secondly because it is too dangerous an antagonist. Should a grizzly's anger become aroused by a wound, it will attack men and horses without discrimination. It lays about itself with its huge paws, while its claws will smash through almost any substance, as if they were made of steel. So tenacious of life is the grizzly bear that, unless it is wounded in some vital spot it will fight on, although its body may be riddled with bullets.
All California hunters fear the grizzly, and with good reason, for no other animal on the American Continent matches it for size and strength.
Men who have traveled all over the world believe that a grizzly is more than a match for either a lion or a tiger, in spite of their superior agility.
A full-grown male grizzly frequently weighs as much as fourteen hundred pounds, but the female weighs a good deal less.
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