The life-story of every bear is a story of adventure. A hunter with whom
I was camping in the No-Summer Mountains of Colorado came in one June
evening with the report that he had killed a mother grizzly. He had
searched for her cubs, which he thought must be near by, but had failed
to discover them. The hunter said he had come upon her unexpectedly in a
thicket and she had at once charged, probably thinking herself cornered.
One well-aimed shot in the head had dropped her.
The following morning I went with the hunter to bring in the grizzly.
She was a beautiful silver-tip of about four hundred pounds. We made
another thorough search for the cubs without finding them. Just as the
hunter was about to start skinning the bear I caught sight of a cub
peeping from beneath large slide rocks not thirty feet away. Then
another frightened cub face appeared.
After hesitating for a moment both cubs came out and stood looking
intently toward us and their dead mother. After a stare, as we did not
move, they took a few steps toward us. Hesitating again, they stopped,
rose up and looked around, and then hastily retreated to the rocks.
Evidently their mother had trained them to stay wherever she left them
until she returned.
But they had waited long. For a while they stood and whimpered very much
like hungry, forsaken children. They could scent their mother, and see
her, too, and were too hungry and lonesome to endure without her longer.
Again they started slowly toward us, walking closely side by side. When
very near they paused, rose on hind legs, and looked intently at us and
in wonder and longing at their lifeless mother. Then they went to her.
One little cub sniffed in a bewildered, puzzled way over her cold, still
body. He gently stroked her fur with his paw and then sat down and began
to whimper and cry.
[Illustration: THE CHALLENGE
_The Cub on the Right is an Alaskan Grizzly of the Big Brown
Bear Type_]
The other little cub stood looking with awe into his mother's moveless
face, but at last shook off his fright and smelled her bloody head.
Then, all forlorn, he turned to look eagerly into the face of the
hunter, who had been watching the little cub all this while with big
tears upon his cheeks. After a moment he took a step toward him, rose
up, and trustingly put fore paws upon his knee, looking seriously,
confidingly into his face. We carried these little orphans to camp, and
the hunter raised them. Their mother was the last animal that he ever
shot.
The cubs are born in the hibernating cave in January, February, or
March, probably the majority in February. The number at birth commonly
is two, but sometimes there are three and occasionally even four. Each
is about the size of a chipmunk, weighing from ten to twenty ounces.
Generally the mother does not come forth for either food or drink for
some weeks after the cubs are born. She stays in the den a month longer
than bears without cubs. Curled around the little bears in the den, she
nourishes them from her store of fat. The cubs grow slowly, and on
leaving the den are often only a trifle larger than a cotton-tail
rabbit, weighing from ten to fifteen pounds. The grizzly appears to give
birth to cubs only every second year. Though yearlings have been seen
with a mother and cubs, it is likely that they did not belong to her.
In proportion to the size of the mother, the grizzly is one of the
smallest of animals at birth, weighing about one fifth of one per cent
of her weight. A baby kangaroo at birth is even smaller proportionally,
however, and is said to weigh less than one tenth of one per cent of the
mother's weight. A baby blue whale is about four per cent of the weight
of the mother and sometimes weighs three tons and has a length of
twenty-five feet.
Why is the young grizzly so small? It will readily be seen that while
hibernating, neither eating nor drinking for a few months, the mother
grizzly would not be able to nourish two or more very lusty youngsters.
It is probable that in the process of evolution Nature selected the
small grizzly cubs to perpetuate the species.
While visiting the Blackfeet Indians in western Montana one February, I
saw a young Indian woman nursing two baby grizzly bears. The mother
grizzly had been killed a day or two before and the cubs taken from the
den. They were little bits of warm, pink life, scantily covered with
hair. Each weighed not more than one pound. They were blind and
toothless, but had sharp tiny claws. They had their eyes open in about
fourteen days, and early began to cut their teeth. For several days the
Indian woman suckled the cubs, then she fed them on cow's milk and
succeeded in raising them.
Many are the colors of grizzlies. I once saw a mother with four cubs,
each of a different color. She herself was cream-colored, but one of the
cubs was nearly black, another gray, the third brown, and the fourth
black and white. A grizzly may be a blond, or a brunette, or one of half
a dozen in-between shades. Often, as he ages, he becomes a "silver-tip."
Probably dark gray is the prevailing color.
From the time the mother and cubs emerge from the winter den in the
spring until they enter a den to hibernate the next winter, they are on
the move much of the time. Only occasionally does the old bear leave the
cubs behind, and this as a rule is not for long. She is constantly
watchful for their safety and makes haste to place herself between the
cubs and any possible danger. In retreating she usually leads the way,
the cubs following closely, but if nearly cornered she is likely to act
as rear guard.
Crossing the mountains one stormy spring day, I paused in a whirl of
mist and wet snow to look for the trail. Peering ahead, I beheld a
grizzly bear emerging from the gloom only a few yards away. Close
behind her were two small cubs. Mother Grizzly, as much surprised as I,
instantly retreated. With an impatient expression and a growl of anger
she wheeled quickly about and boxed the cubs right and left like a
nervous mother. Urged on with spanks from behind, the youngsters turned
back in the direction they had come from, and all vanished in the
falling snow.
Though gentle and patient, the grizzly mother uses a limited amount of
cuffing and spanking with the cubs, especially if they are in danger.
One day from far across a cañon I was watching two cubs walking along a
wild-life trail in front of their mother, when a pack outfit appeared on
my side of the cañon. The mother and the cubs saw it, and she at once
turned up a gulch, pushing the cubs before her. But the youngsters were
interested in the pack-animals and, standing still, forgot everything in
their eager watching. The mother went from one to the other, pushing
them forward. The instant she left one, the cub stopped and turned to
look back in eager curiosity at the strange sight across the cañon.
Without any show of temper the mother pushed one ahead a few yards and
then returned to the other and urged it forward.
The mother protects her cubs at any cost. Many a grizzly mother has died
in defense of her offspring, and I do not know of an instance of a
mother's running away when her cubs were exposed to danger.
At Grand Lake, Colorado, one June day, I went with a trapper on his
rounds, thinking that he might have trapped a grizzly. He had a cub
trapped by a fore paw. As we approached the spot, I chanced to climb
over a pile of fallen timber and from the top of this I saw Mother
Grizzly lying in wait a short distance in front of the cub. She had dug
out a place behind a log and was lying there concealed, unmistakably
waiting for the trapper.
One morning late in May, while I stood behind a tree watching two young
beaver at play in the pond, a small grizzly cub, of the same brown color
as the beaver, walked out to the end of a log that lay partly in the
water. He was interested in the beaver. Reaching down, he touched the
water with right fore paw, whimpered, but hesitated about going in.
While he stood looking trustingly at them, the beaver, who had been
watching him, dived into the pond.
Cubs as well as human children sometimes become separated and lost from
even the most watchful of mothers. This little cub was so thin and weak
that he must have been lost for some days. In the woods a trace of snow
that had fallen a day or two before still lingered. This enabled me to
back-track the cub to where he had probably spent a part of the night,
about a quarter of a mile up stream from the pond. His tracks showed
that he had wandered much.
If I left the cub in the woods it appeared improbable that his mother
would find him before he starved, and it was unlikely that I should find
her, even though I continued the dangerous business of searching for
her. I caught the cub without effort, and, after a few feeble attempts
to scratch and bite me, he calmed down, licked my hand, and then began
to suck a raisin which I handed him from my pocket. He was a tiny little
fellow and could not have weighed more than nine or ten pounds. I
carried him to the nearest ranch. The children were glad to have him,
and a letter from them some months afterwards told me that "Maverick"
was happy in his new home.
From a tree-top perch I once had a good glimpse of bear life, as a
mother grizzly with two young cubs stopped by a tree to dig out mice.
In the midst of her digging mother grizzly caught a faint scent of me
and instantly was all concentration. On tiptoe, motionless as a statue,
she stood looking, listening, and gathering information with her
nostrils. Then she relaxed, dropped on all fours, and for a moment
seemed uncertain as to her next move. One of the cubs concluded to
suckle. Instantly the mother knocked him headlong with a side swing of
her left fore paw. Such thoughtlessness in the face of possible danger
was evidently too much to be excused.
The little cub landed some yards away, tumbling heels over head. He
showed no surprise, in fact pretended that this was a part of his plan.
The instant he rolled on his feet he sniffed the earth eagerly as though
he had made a remarkable discovery and started to dig. Without
uncovering a thing he presently raced away to overtake mother and the
other cub.
Cubs appear to depend upon mother's milk until they are about six months
of age. Before this time they may eat a little solid food now and then,
but this is done more out of curiosity and in imitation of mother than
from desire. It is likely to be July before they do even this and late
August before they eat solid things with any regularity. They are not
likely to be weaned until just before denning-up time. The Indians in
Alaska told me that sometimes the cubs are not weaned until the second
autumn of their lives. This certainly is sometimes true, but I think it
peculiar to Alaska.
Comical and cunning the cubs appear as they mimic the mother. When she
stands up with fore paws against her breast, looking intently into the
distance, the cubs stand up with their paws upon their breasts and look
in the same direction. When mother turns or sniffs, these cunning little
imitators also turn and sniff. The cubs walk up to a spot where the
mother has been sniffing and digging and there sniff and dig. If mother
continues digging rather long, they find a place of their own and dig.
If mother reaches up and pulls down a fruit-laden limb and takes a bite,
they too must pull down a twig of some kind and at least look at it.
Around the shores of Chickadee Pond a mother grizzly and her two cubs
spent a July day digging out grass roots, willow roots, and probably
also grubs. I watched them for hours. Occasionally one took a mouthful
of grass or a bite of blue mertensia. After a while mother waded into
the pond; cubs of course followed.
The large yellow pond-lilies were in bloom, and mother went about biting
off stalk after stalk, apparently forgetting the cubs. One of them
grabbed a lily stem and bit two or three times without cutting it.
Finally, leaning back, he pulled it apart. He chewed it a little but
didn't seem to enjoy it. Then, holding the lily in one paw, he thrust
the great golden bulb into his mouth and ate it with apparent
satisfaction. The other little cub after much tugging finally uprooted a
lily. He chewed at the four-foot stalk in three or four places. Then,
taking the bulb in both fore paws, he ate it as though it were an apple.
It is ever a joy to watch a grizzly and her children. A mother grizzly
crossing a lake just south of Long's Peak swam low in the water with a
cub sitting contentedly on her back. She came directly towards the shore
where I was standing concealed behind trees. As she approached I threw a
stone into the water close to her. Wheeling about like lightning, Mother
Grizzly started at full speed for the farther shore. The cub tipped over
in the water, but hastily took a tail-hold and was towed rapidly away.
I once saw a grizzly and cub walking leisurely along the top of a ridge
above timber-line, the cub with long strides following in mother's
footprints. There were perhaps six or more inches of snow. I sat still.
They were coming almost towards me. Watching carefully with my glass, I
noticed that the cub was limping. He suddenly sat down and bawled. The
mother, after walking on several steps, turned to look at the cub, who
was holding his hind foot between his fore paws and examining his hurt.
I heard him whimper two or three times, and finally mother went back.
She looked down at the bottom of the foot rather indifferently, then
turned and walked on. The cub followed after.
When they passed near me the mother rose suddenly on hind legs, stood
with fore paws held against her chest, and looked and looked, and
sniffed and sniffed. Little cub, forgetting his sore hind foot, stood up
with little paws against his breast, stretched his neck, looked, and
sniffed--a perfect little imitation of the mother. She moved off several
steps and stopped on the very edge of a precipitous ridge to scout. The
cub placed his fore paws against mother's side and from this secure
position peeped over and beyond her. But they did not detect me and soon
went leisurely on.
Two miles farther I crept as close as I could and paused to watch. The
mother was digging, the cub watching eagerly. As her digging continued
for some time, he moved away, sniffed two or three times, and then began
digging rapidly on his own account. While both were digging, there was a
whir of wings and a sweep of shadows, and a flock of white ptarmigan
alighted among broken ledges near by. While I was watching them, a flock
of mountain sheep came along the out-thrusting ridge and paused to play
for a few moments on the sky-line. In pairs they faced, then reared up
and sparred with their horns; they cut lively circles around one
another. A rugged, snowy peak loomed grim behind the scene, and the
dense forest spread away for miles below. The bears, the ptarmigan, and
the sheep, the white peak, the purple forest, and the blue sky gave me a
striking experience and left a splendid picture. As I turned to go, the
cub was giving all his attention to the play of the sheep.
The almost continual play of the cubs is a never-ending source of
interest. They race, they wrestle, they box, and they play hide and
seek with utmost enthusiasm. They climb upon mother's back, they swat
and pummel her and maul her. She will endure this by the hour with
absolute indifference. Mother sometimes plays with the cubs but more
often lets them play with her, or, unconcerned, simply watches them in
their scrambles.
Playing cubs are strikingly boylike in their ways. They tumble and roll
about with lively energy. Their boxing is a ludicrously earnest show.
Standing up they clinch, struggle, break away and watch for a new
advantage. They strike first with one paw, then with the other, then
with both at once. They come close, dodge, and jump back; they hold one
paw high and the other low; sometimes they guard the face with one arm
while striking with the other. Often they strike wildly, evidently
intending to miss; they bristle up, growl, and have great fun,
pretending to be more in earnest and terrible than they really are.
No two boys ever had more excitement and fun swimming in a river than
did two cub bears whom I once watched. These cubs raced, splashed, and
pushed one another under the water. They dived and swam beneath the
surface and from a bowlder plunged into it with terrific splashes,
sometimes forward, sometimes backward.
One of the happiest incidents which I have seen in the grizzly bear
world was a mother grizzly who had discovered some honey in a standing
dead tree, perhaps five or six feet above the ground. Tearing open the
edges of the hole, she helped herself to a quantity of the honey, then
called her two cubs, who were playing a short distance away. They needed
no second invitation when they saw mother standing on hind legs and
leaning forward with fore paws against the trunk of the tree. Up the
incline of her back they raced merrily, and, standing upon mother's
head, they ate with eagerness this wonderful feast of honey.
The cubs den up with their mother the winter following their birth. The
mother is their companion until they are a year and a half old,
sometimes longer. During their second summer she commonly leaves the
cub--or cubs, as the case may be--to make their way in the world alone.
Once the family ties are broken, the grizzly is seldom seen with other
bears.
If two, three, or four in number, the yearlings run together another
year, and are chummy and inseparable. One becomes the leader and is
followed faithfully. If trouble arises, they are united and devoted
little people. To kill or injure one of the youngsters means that a
hunter is promptly charged by the others, and often killed or injured.
The cubs are great ramblers. They may wander through unoccupied regions
and over the territory of other bears. They are not considered intruders
by other bears. There are numerous interesting incidents in the
companionship of these year-olds, and sometimes of two-year-olds, who
have explored miles of territory, chased animals, played, and enjoyed
themselves together, and in moments of danger united and fought the
enemy. Yearling bears den up together the second winter and occasionally
also the third winter. Generally, however, after the second winter, that
is to say, when two and a half years old, they separate. From this time
on the grizzly lives alone.
Where does he make his first home? Sometimes the young grizzly crowds
into the territory adjoining his birthplace, but at other times he must
wander far away to find territory not already occupied. In the past,
when grizzlies were numerous, the increased population each year must
have compelled readjustments and forced a reduction of the area claimed
by each individual. But in these times, except perhaps in two or three
National Parks, there are thousands of square miles here and there over
the West without a grizzly on them. But the grizzly is fond of his home
territory, and in it, except for occasional visits into the outside
world, he spends his life.