The other American bears, called black, griz zly, cinnamon, Barren-Ground, brown, Kadialc, and so on, are so confusingly alike that some conservative naturalists regard them all as merely varieties of one species, altered by cli mate and food and a tendency to individual variation; and it has even been said that there was no real specific distinction between them and the Old World bears, which also present differences that blend confusingly together when many specimens are compared. Others regard the differences as not only of specific value, but place some of the forms in separate genera. The latest monographer of the Ameri can Ursida. recognizes no less than eight spe cies on this continent, besides the Polar bear and the spectacled bear of the Andes (Ursus ornatus), which is thought by others to be merely an isolated variety of the black bear that somehow has acquired whitish rings around its eyes. The black bear (Ursus Americonus) is the most wide-spread of these, being found in all the forested regions of the continent north of Mexico and still remaining wherever a large patch of forest or a range of moun tains or rough hills give it a harbor, whence it may raid the pasture-lots and pig sties of fron tier farmers, especially in early spnng when wild food is scarce. Black bears climb trees easily, travel about a great deal and are often captured and tamed. They are timid and secretive, and rarely are dangerous Unless wounded or cornered and enraged. The color of this bear is properly black, but brown, reddish (((cinnamon*) or even yellowish ex amples are frequently seen. The nose is always tan-colored. In size they average about five feet and never reach the dimensions of a large grizzly. The bears of Florida and of Texas are each regarded by some as separate species, but most naturalists consider them to be merely geographical races. The Barren-Ground bear (Ursus richardsoni) is a large, whitish-brown species dwelling on the brushy plains north west of Hudson Bay, which there is good rea son to believe is an isolated American race of the European brown bear.
The grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis) of the mountains of western North America is one of the largest, and perhaps the most to be feared, of any of the family. It is found from the Black Hills and the Badlands of Dakota west ward to the Pacific coast, and from Mexico to northern Alaska. A large specimen is nine feet in length and will weigh 1,000 pounds, but the size varies greatly. So does the color, which ranges from reddish-brown to hoary gray. Hence several varieties are recognized by hunt ers, such as ((silver-tips° (in which the tips of the hairs are white) and ((grizzlies.* The typical form may be described as yellow ish-brown, with a reddish mane, black dorsal stripe and dark-colored legs. In form they are massive, with broad, squarish heads and im mensely muscular bodies. They cannot, or, at any rate, do not, climb trees, but they scramble about the roughest mountains or through a dense forest with surprising agility and can run very rapidly on occasions. They seem rarely, if ever, to hibernate and go about alone or in pairs, eating all sorts of food, but seizing and pulling down large prey when an opportunity offers. In former days even a bull buffalo was unable always to resist their strength and they constantly attacked them and the deer. At present the cattle and horses upon the ranges in some parts of the West suffer from their ravages. Though so mighty, and when at bay or enraged probably not less dangerous to en counter than a lion or tiger, they will usually avoid and flee from man and do not seem quarrelsome, the tradition of a constant enmity between them and the black bears not finding support in facts. The grizzly is easily the most terrible of the game animals of North America and one of the most formidable in the world; but different bears vary greatly in tempera ment and according to circumstances. The In dians and experienced hunters of the West, however, have learned to hold all of the race in the highest respect. Much the same statement will apply to the Barren-Ground bear, already mentioned, and to the Alaskan bears to be spoken of presently. The grizzly is still to be found throughout most of its range, though no longer numerous except in the wilder parts of the Rocky Mountains, in the northern parts of the Sierra Nevada and in the high mountains northward from Oregon to Alaska, where the largest ones are now to be obtained. The
Kadiak bear is a brownish species or variety (Ursus middendorffi) dwelling on Kadiak Is land, Alaska, and the neighboring mainland. Specimens of it exceeding in size any other bear have been obtained, atid weighing 1,200 pounds. Whether it will prove to be a distinct species remains to be seen. The same may be said of Dalli or the Sitka bear (Ursus dalli). Both are dark brown or grizzled and difficult to dis tinguish externally from other bears of the north.
The bears of the Old World have been di vided into many species by earlier naturalists, but are now regarded as more nearly connected. The best known is the common brown bear of Europe and Asia (Ursus arctos). It is of large size, reaching about eight feet in length in the bigger European specimens, and is usually of some shade of yellowish-brown, reddish-brown or black but varies greatly. It is exceedingly difficult to distinguish from the American bears and passes by indeterminate variation into the so-called species of Siberia, Japan and the Himalayan region, the differences being such as might come from varying climate and habi tat; thus those of the high Himalaya are smaller and lighter in color, etc. Although long ago extinct in Great Britain, it still lingers in the wilder, more mountainous parts of Europe and is numerous in the forests of Rus sia, the Caucasus, on the Lebanon range of Asia Minor (where it is called the Syrian bear), in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and throughout Asia north of the Himalayas. The largest are those of Kamchatka, where they are numerous and bold and live in summer al most wholly on salmon, as do the Kadiak and other Alaskan bears east of Bering Sea. This is the bear most often seen in menageries, where it breeds readily, and is also led about by "bear-tamers* and taught certain clumsy ((danc ing* tricks. The Tibetan or bear (Ursus pruinosus) is a little-known species re garded as distinct. Two other quite distinct species of bear belong to the Indo-Malayan region. One is the sloth-bear or honey-bear of India, a large animal which in its jungle home is one of the most dangerous carnivores of the Indian forests, yet is often tamed and led about the country by Hindu jugglers, who called it etc. It is black, unusually shaggy and has a prolonged mobile snout, a very long tongue and no teeth in the front of the mouth (after the milk teeth drop out), making its facial grimaces very comical. Another very distinctive feature is the large yellowish cres cent on its breast. It is an agile climber and exceedingly fond of robbing the nests of honey-making bees. These facts are recorded in its name (Ursus or Melursus) labiatus.
The Malayan sun bear, or Thruang° (Ursus, or Helarctos, Malayanus), is a smaller species inhabiting the forests of the Malayan Peninsula and islands eastward to Borneo. Its coat is short and fine, black in color, marked on the breast with a white or orange crescent, and the lips and tongue are remarkably long and flexi ble. It feeds mainly on ants, which it gathers with its glutinous tongue after digging up their hills, for which its long claws are well fitted.
Fossil bears, commonly called ((cave bears;' have been found in the Quaternary bone-brec cia of many caves of Europe, North and South America. Some are closely allied to or iden tical with living species; others, as the Cali fornia and South American cave bears, are referred to a distinct genus, Arctotherium. In the Tertiary strata of the Old World occur remains of a series of animals (Amphicyon, Hycenarctos, etc.) which appear to connect the bears with primitive Canicke, indicating that they are an offshoot of the dog family. See also CAVE BEARS.
Bibliography.-- Consult, in addition to gen eral works mentioned under MAMMALS and the writings of sportsmen-travelers, Osgood, (North American Fauna' (No. 24 [Alaska] Washing ton 1904) • Preble, N. A., (Fauna' (No. 27 [Athabaska, Mackenzie region] Washington 1908) ' • Seton, (Northern Mammals' (New York 1909) ; Wright, Grizzly Bear) (New York 1909) ; Wright, Black Bear' (New York 1910).