Wild beasts

by J. Hampden Porter

John D. Godman (“American Natural History”) calls it “savage and solitary.” All the more powerful beasts of prey might be similarly characterized. The influence of organization, inherited tendencies, and their daily life, indispose creatures of this kind towards association. Moreover, they are most generally rivals in their usual habitats, both as hunters and as suitors during the pairing season. We have no accounts, like those given of lions and tigers, to show how males behave toward each other under the antagonisms implied in contact, but everything points towards conflict. Still, as there are conditions which bring the former together in certain localities, so grizzlies sometimes congregate. Möllhausen (“Diary of a Journey from the Mississippi to the Pacific”) reports that at Mount Sitgreaves, and in its surrounding eminences, their dens were so numerous that Leroux (a famous guide and hunter of those days) had never seen the same “numbers living together in so small a space.” They had all gone when Möllhausen’s party was there, owing to the freezing of waters in that vicinity. Those places where they had tried to break the ice were often found, and many trails well marked in snow showed that the bears had “made their journey to the south in troops of eight or more,” each detachment going in single file.

Nevertheless, “Old Ephraim,” as mountain men call him, having inspired all who ever penetrated into his haunts with a wholesome respect, has naturally been exposed to misconstructions. His character is frequently represented as more fierce and morose than it really is. Writers say of him that he will not tolerate the presence of a black bear, or the variety of this species, according to Baird, the “cinnamon,” in his neighborhood. They tell how their boundaries are sharply defined, and remark that occasionally small numbers of these less formidable members of the family live as enclaves within the grizzlies’ territories, but are rigorously confined to their own limits.

This is one of those wholesale statements with which descriptive zoölogy is full. No doubt there are plenty of grizzly bears that would kill any poaching relative of theirs unlucky enough to encounter them. As a general fact in natural history, however, the theory of the separateness of distribution among American Ursidæ will not stand. Many direct observations show it to be otherwise, and Schwatka (“Along Alaska’s Great River”) is fully supported in saying that he doubts the truth of this statement from his own experience. On Cone Hill River he saw “four or five black and brown bears in an open or untimbered space of about an acre or two.”

There are spots in India appropriately called “tigerish.” Any one who knows the beast’s ways would naturally look for it in these sites. But it is very doubtful if the physical features of localities have much to do with selection by this species, apart from the fact that when he feels himself to be in danger, a grizzly gets into the most inaccessible position possible. He loves cover under all circumstances, although it is not uncommon in secluded situations to find these animals far out in open country; but timber and brush seem to be more or less accidental accessories so far as his preference is concerned. The animal needs a constant supply of water, and if this can be had, broken and intricate ravine systems suit it as well as thickets or forest land. Its partiality for swamps depends upon their productions, and the fact that game is apt to be found in them. Independently of special considerations of any kind, the propensity to conceal itself is a natural and necessary outgrowth of the habits and character of all predatory creatures. They do so universally, and a grizzly, like the rest, much prefers a wind-row, precipitous arroyo, or brake, to any plain whatever which is not overgrown in some way.

Grizzly bears do not climb trees. They are said to shake them in order to procure fruit, and also for the purpose of dislodging men who have taken refuge among their branches; in general, however, the animal sits up and claws down the boughs within reach.

Probably that conventional expression, the “bear hug,” has no significance anywhere. Some bears hug tree stems in ascending trunks adapted to their embrace, but Asiatic species of all kinds simply sink their claws into the bark of boles they would be utterly unable to gain any hold upon otherwise, and climb like cats. This arctoid is too heavy for that; he is over-sized, in fact, like the greater Felidæ, for any arboreal gymnastics. The writer can find no reliable evidence to show that this or any other bear attempts to inflict injury by straining the body of an enemy within its arms. A grizzly will grasp and hold a man or beast while biting, or striking with the claws of its hind feet, and blows from its forearm are delivered as frequently and not less effectually than is customary with the lion, but beyond teeth, talons, and concussion, no authentic mention is made of modes by which its victims are put to death.

All young vertebrates are playful in youth, and if taken early enough, some would be found even in species commonly regarded as untamable, that for a time at least might be domesticated. Among Ursidæ untrustworthiness is the rule. They are quite intelligent, capable of being taught, and competent to understand the necessity for being peaceable. Yet if one judges from reports they are more unreliable than the cats. Relatively these animals are not so highly endowed, and this fact, coupled with inherent ferocity, and an organization by which passion is made explosive, accounts for the character they bear. Cubs of Ursus horribilis grow savage very soon. Lockwood and others regard the species as incapable of being completely tamed. As far as that goes, however, the same is true of every wild beast able to do harm. These animals are kept under the same conditions as other show creatures, and seem to be in much the same state. It is nevertheless probable that either from a greater degree of insensibility or less mental capacity, they always remain more dangerous than most feræ. This brute has nothing of the phlegm about him that his appearance suggests. He is morose, surly, and rough at all times, and even more liable to sudden and violent fits of rage than a tiger.

Either, as seems likely from what we know of the animals in question, on account of the fact that those who have had an opportunity to observe them were exclusively occupied with describing their destructiveness, or because grizzlies have few of those traits that make many species interesting, their records are very barren indeed. A solitary being like this could not possess the engaging qualities Espinas (“Sociétés Animales”) and Beccari describe among those that live in association; but other creatures are so placed without losing all attractiveness. It does not take long to tell the little that is certain about a grizzly’s ways when left to himself. Besides what has been already said, we know that they appropriate game not killed by themselves, and will steal meat wherever it is found. Audubon saw one swimming in the Upper Missouri after the carcass of a drowned buffalo, Roosevelt had his elk eaten, and four of them visited Lord Dunraven’s camp, carrying off all the food they could find. He says “they scarcely ate any of the flesh, but took the greatest pains to prevent any other creatures getting at it.” This is not always the case, however. That they bury provisions is sure, but it is sometimes done very imperfectly, even when there is no physical difficulty in the way of completeness. On rocky soil the cache is simply covered with leaves, branches, and grass. Lord Dunraven, however, tells of a hunter who watched a grizzly burying its prey with the greatest care, concealing it completely, and finishing off his work in the most painstaking manner. Animals that have this habit need not watch their food as a tiger does his “kill,” and when the interment was accomplished to this one’s satisfaction, it went away. Before getting far, some “whiskey jacks” (a kind of magpie) that had been intently observing his doings began to unearth the deposit. Then he came back, drove them off, and repaired damages. This happened several times, until the bear flew into a violent passion, and while ramping around after the manner of these beasts he got shot. The author had a pony killed on one occasion, and the murderer buried its remains in the most slovenly manner possible.

These bears collect salmon during the spawning season on the banks of streams. They also scoop them out of the water with their claws, and dive after single fish. There are no full accounts of the manner in which prey is taken among these quadrupeds, but the creature’s conformation makes it impossible that any of the deer kind could be captured except by stratagem. A grizzly can make a rapid rush. His lumbering, awkward gallop carries him forward so rapidly that on rough ground a man would have to be very fleet of foot to have any chance of escape. Colonel Markham states that the charge of an Indian hill bear is so swift that it cannot be avoided, and it appears from all accounts that so far as speed goes, at least for a short distance, the Ursidæ have in general been underrated. In cover or upon open spaces, one of these bears always rises up when its attention is attracted, and it does the same if alarmed or angry, if wounded or intending to attack. It does this in order to see more clearly; for the sight, although it is not positively defective, cannot compare with that of many other species, and independently of the advantage gained by elevation, its short neck circumscribes vision while the body is in a horizontal position. The hearing is acute and the sense of smell highly developed. J. R. Bartlett, while acting upon the boundary commission between the United States and Mexico, says that at his encampment by the geysers of Pluton River his party found signs of these animals’ proximity, but that they managed to avoid meeting the intruders, chiefly, as he supposed, by means of their scenting powers. Lieutenant J. W. Abert, while hidden with a companion at fifty yards from three grizzlies, was detected in this way, and the majority of observers have remarked upon the goodness of their noses. It is also said that they have an aversion to human effluvium, and that a warm trail will cause one to turn aside more certainly than the sight of a hunter. This needs confirmation, and may be taken with the same reservation which should attach to Godman’s statement that the grizzly “is much more intimidated by the voice than the aspect of man.” No doubt bears may have failed to push a charge home because their intended victim screamed with terror, but both in this case and in that just mentioned, while speaking of the influence of odor, so soon as such experiences are created into general truths, they can be met with facts by which they are stultified.

Nothing, so far as the author knows, has been advanced upon the subject of a male grizzly’s paternal virtues or conjugal affections. As is the rule with fierce beasts, offspring depend upon the mother for care and protection. Two or three cubs are born together in spring, and they have been seen in her company from infancy up to an age when apparently able to shift for themselves. Very little is known, however, about the important subject of their training, the length of time during which they are under tutelage, or the degree to which tenderness and solicitude are developed in females of this species by maternity. A tigress robbed of her young has become a familiar simile for expressing desperation and inappeasable anger, but it has little foundation in truth, and many reports to the same effect in this animal’s case, appear upon a wide survey of the evidence to be equally doubtful. Colonel R. I. Dodge (“Plains of the Great West”) most likely comes as near the truth as it is possible for any one to do in the present state of knowledge, when he remarks that although a she-bear will often fight desperately in defence of her cubs, it is just as probable that they may be abandoned to their fate if the mother supposes herself to be in danger.