(_Ursus arctus_)
With the exception of the hyænas and the civets, all the more important
families of land Carnivora are represented in northern Europe; the
wild cat and the lynx doing duty for the _Felidæ_, the wolf and the
fox for the _Canidæ_, the pine-marten, glutton, and otter, together
with several smaller species, for the _Mustelidæ_, and the bear, or
brown bear, as it is commonly called, in order to distinguish it from
its relatives--white, grey, or black--for the _Ursidæ_. It is further
noteworthy that, with the exception of the wild cat, all these animals
are either common to the northern portions of the two hemispheres or
are represented in North America by species very closely allied to
their European prototypes.
The bear is one of the undoubtedly circumpolar species, for although
distinct names have been given to its American representatives, with
the exception of the grisly bear (_Ursus horribilis_), which is
specifically different, all these are obviously nothing more than local
forms or races of a single variable and widely distributed species.
Even in the Old World there are many distinct races of the brown bear.
In Syria, for instance, we have a greyish race (_U. arctus syriacus_);
while in Kashmir the coat is very generally deep cream-colour, although
it tends to darken in old individuals of this race, which is known as
_U. a. isabellinus_. From the British Isles the bear has long since
been exterminated, but it survives in the wilder parts of Spain,
France, Germany, and Hungary, while it is still comparatively common
in many parts of Scandinavia and Russia, whence it extends right
across Asia north of the southern flank of the Himalaya to Kamchatka
and Japan; its southern limit to the east of the Himalaya being marked
by the Siamese race (_U. a. shanorum_). Central Asian brown bears,
of which the local races are not yet properly determined, generally
have light-coloured coats, with a white gorget, which is wanting in
Scandinavian and Russian bears. The largest Old World race is the
Kamchadale brown bear (_U. a. piscator_ or _lasiotis_), of which skins
may measure as much as 9 feet in length.
On the opposite side of Bering Strait Alaska vies with Kamchatka in
claiming the record in point of size among brown bears, while in the
matter of local variation the representatives of the species put the
rest of the world into the shade, for American naturalists recognise
no fewer than half a dozen different races in Alaska alone. These
include the huge Kodiak bear (_U. a. middendorffi_) of Kodiak Island,
the Alaskan Peninsula bear (_U. a. gyas_), the gigantic Yakutat bear
(_U. a. dalli_) from the neighbourhood of Yakutat Bay and the coast
for an undetermined distance north and south, the Sitka bear (_U.
a. sitkensis_) of Sitka and Baranoff Islands, the Admiralty bear (_U.
a. eulophus_) of Admiralty Island, and Kidder’s bear (_U. a. kidderi_)
of the Alaskan Peninsula. All these are, however, so similar to one
another, that it requires an expert to distinguish them.
[Illustration]
The grisly bear (_U. horribilis_) is, however, a distinct species,
characterised, among other features, by its white claws. Typically
a native of the high forests of the Rocky Mountains, the grisly is
represented by two Alaskan races, namely, _U. h. phæonyx_ of the
interior, and _U. h. kenaiensis_ of the Kenai Peninsula and adjacent
coasts. It perhaps reappears in the Tian Shan range, in the heart of
central Asia, in the shape of the so-called _U. leuconyx_.
Bears are the least carnivorous of the Carnivora, subsisting in many
districts almost entirely on fruits, nuts, shoots of trees, roots,
honey, and ants, with an occasional meal of carrion. In Alaska,
however, when the bears wake up from their winter sleep and come abroad
they find the rivers almost choked with Pacific salmon which are
ascending to spawn, and in these they find an abundant and nourishing
food-supply upon which they rapidly grow fat. The duration of the
winter-sleep, which may take place in a hollow tree, a cavern, or a
cleft in the rocks, depends upon the length of the winter; and it is
when they first issue forth from these lairs that bears are in their
best coats, the summer fur being short and comparatively valueless,
while the skins are also difficult to preserve owing to the fatness of
the animals at this season. The females bring forth their cubs, one or
two in number, during the period of hibernation.
Bears are to a great extent diurnal mammals, whose haunts are chiefly
the forests, although in late summer they resort in many localities,
such as Kashmir, to the open mountain pastures, where they may be seen
grazing at no great distance from flocks of sheep or goats. The adults
go about singly or in pairs, the females generally accompanied by their
cubs, which may include those of two successive seasons.