I.
THE LOUISIANA SPECTACLED BEAR.
Tremarctos Ornatus.
Some of our scientists have very carefully divided the Genus Ursus into twelve species. While I will admit that these gentlemen are conscientious and that they are thorough in their researches, I wish to point to the fact that they have entirely overlooked three or four species found on the Pacific Coast.
Many writers have completely ignored the spectacled bear of Louisiana. Is he the representative of another genus? Does he belong to the Genus Helarctos (helios, the “sun,” and arctos, “bear”) credited by the majority of writers with basking in the sun, or because of the peculiar markings of his chest, representing a sunburst? He resembles the Helarctos Malayanus of the Malayan archipelago or the Bruang of Java. Or is he the Sloth Bear, Prochilous (or Melursus) labiatus? This bear has been carefully classified as a separate genus found from the Ganges to Ceylon. His description fits rather loosely the so-called sloth of Louisiana. Possibly the Louisiana specimen is of the Genus Tremarctos, of which the learned people tell us there is but a solitary species carefully isolated in the Andes of Chile and Peru. I shall call the Louisiana specimen by the name given him by our poet, the Spectacled Bear, Tremarctos Ornatus, and the professors who have entirely overlooked his existence may classify him later when they find time. At one time the Honey Bear was classified as a “Bradipus,” or sloth, because of its liability to lose its incisors. It was therefore set down as one of the Edentata. It has also been styled the Jungle Bear, the Lipped Bear, and names as various as the investigators’ fancy. The Tremarctos Ornatus of Louisiana, or spectacled bear, is not a sloth. He does not belong to the Edentata, neither is he lazy. He is essentially the clown of all bears, a very intelligent animal, and in many cases the intellectual superior of his keeper. He is active to a degree, and will perform the queerest antics for the amusement of the onlooker. He is quaintly conscious of his mirth-provoking powers, much as a child playing “smarty.” He will quickly climb an inclined log or tree, and then slide down either in an upright position, clasping the log with the knees, or he will slide “down the banister” as a child might. I have seen the merry fellow grab his tail in his mouth and roll over and over until dizzy.
His snout is almost hairless, narrow and proboscis like, and the nostrils and lips are mobile. He shapes these almost into a pipe, through which his long tongue is shot out, drawing things in or sucking them up. It has claws of a bluish gray that are longer than those of any other of the Ursidae. The hair is very long, of a deep brown black. There is a sunburst upon the chest of a white or fulvous hue. The ears are small and scarcely distinguishable, owing to the shaggy mane. The fur is rather coarse and very long.
It lives mainly upon honey and vegetables and sugar cane. In captivity it will very gratefully subsist upon oatmeal and occasional sweets. The animal is easily tamed, and will become attached to its keeper, giving an exhibition of exuberant joy at his approach. It is a jolly good fellow, and shows a marked preference for liquors, refusing all others when it may have champagne.
It will sit on its hind legs and make faces at the onlooker, waving its arms in the most grotesque fashion, while it rolls its body from side to side. This is one of the characteristics that has impressed the negro with the sacredness of this “Voodoo Bear.”