This animal, which inhabits the region of the Rocky Mountains as far south as Mexico, is the most savage member of the whole family, and is more dreaded by Indian and Canadian trappers than any other. It is stated to attain a length of nine feet and a weight of eight hundred pounds, so that it greatly exceeds the Brown and Black Bears in size, and approaches in these respects to the Polar Bear. Its strength is enormous. “It has been known to drag to a considerable distance the carcass of a Buffalo, weighing about one thousand pounds.”
The fur is of a dark-brown colour, with a good deal of grey on the head, and is of an inferior quality to that of the brown and black kinds. It is also distinguished from the latter by shorter and more conical ears, by very long, arched, white claws, and by the ridiculously small size of its tail, which is completely hidden by the surrounding fur. “It is a standing joke among the Indian hunters, when they have killed a Grizzly Bear, to desire any one unacquainted with the animal to take hold of its tail.”
The Grizzly is much more carnivorous in its habits than other Bears, and its ferocity is so great that it will often attack man unprovoked. “The young Grizzly Bears and gravid females hibernate, but the older males often come abroad in the winter in quest of food.”
ISABELLINE, OR INDIAN WHITE BEAR.
THE SYRIAN BEAR.[143]
This animal, a fine specimen of which is in the Zoological Gardens, is the Bear of which we have the oldest historical record. It was an animal of this species that was slain by David during his shepherd’s career; and two females of the same kind are stated to have attacked the mockers of Elisha, and to have killed forty-two of them.
The Syrian Bear is found in the mountains of Palestine, and especially in Lebanon; a variety, known as the Indian White Bear,[144] occurs in the Himalayas. It is of a yellowish-brown colour, but this hue varies somewhat according to sex and the season of the year. The claws are smaller than in any of the foregoing species, and, as in the Brown Bear, the diet is usually of a vegetable nature, recourse being had to animal food only in times of necessity.