Measurements.—The skull of the type, an old male, measures: basal length 314; occipito-nasal length 323; palatal length 170; zygomatic breadth 225; interorbital breadth 86.
Distribution.—Probably once from the Stevens Pass area north to British Columbia. Possibly still remaining in the mountains between Mount Baker and Lake Chelan.
Remarks.—Grizzly bears occurred in the lowlands of Oregon ([Bailey], 1936: 324) and California ([Grinnell], Dixon and Linsdale, 1937: 67) but there is no record of their ever having occurred in the lowlands of western Washington.
Bears of the genus Ursus range over Europe, Asia and North America. No less than 75 kinds of grizzly and big brown bears are recognized for North America by [Merriam] (1918). They are closely related to the brown bears of Asia. The 13 kinds of black bears of North America are now thought to belong to but one species, namely americanus, and have no close relatives in Eurasia.
Fig. 51. Probable past distribution of grizzly bears in Washington. A. Ursus chelan. B. Ursus canadensis. C. Ursus idahoensis.
The grizzly is the largest carnivorous mammal in North America. From the black bear the grizzly may be distinguished in life by the prominent muscular hump on the shoulders. Another feature is the long, slim, gently curved claws of the forefoot as compared with the shorter, stouter and sharply curved or hooked foreclaws of the black bear. The grizzly is much larger than the black bear. Cranially, the grizzly differs in possessing a larger skull with lower frontal area, higher, more extensive sagittal crest, more posteriorly jutting occipital condyles and much longer tooth row. The color of both species is variable. Some grizzly bears from Alaska and British Columbia are dark brown, almost as black as a black bear. Others are pale cinnamon with the longer guard hairs pale gray. Individuals of this frosted appearance popularly are known as "silver tips." In Washington, the black bear varies in color from glossy black, through various shades of brown to a pale cinnamon.
The grizzly bear is extinct over most of Washington. A few may remain in remote parts of the northern Cascades, and are regularly listed on the game census reports of the Mount Baker National Forest. Nevertheless, I have found no one who has seen an undoubted grizzly bear in Washington. The type specimen was obtained well up in the Cascade Mountains where the animals, like those in British Columbia, feed on roots, berries, marmots, pikas and other vegetable and animal life.