Eileen Dougherty, age 30, of Gary, Ind.., for her question:
Does the grizzly hibernate?
The word grisly has been handed down to us from an older word meaning shudder. On Halloween, we wear ghostly costumes to fill our friends with grisly fright. The word grizzly comes from a French word meaning grey, And the shaggy, dark coat of the grizzly bear is streaked with white to give him a grizzly, greyish look. The big fellow is also somewhat grisly by nature and, sad to say, the grizzly bear has suffered grisly hardships in his native land.
The grizzly bear is a native of North America and not so long ago he ranged from Alaska all the way down the western mountains to Mexico. Seven different varieties of the big bear roamed the slopes of California. ,He was chosen as the state mammal and floats freely on the state flag, But the only grizzlies now living in California are in zoos and protected state parks. The shaggy giant has been ousted from most of his range and in the wild we find him only in British Columbia and Alaska.
A big grizzly may stand eight feet tall and weigh more than a quarter ton. And the giant is a powerhouse of mighty muscle. He can split the head of a steer with a blow of a paw and even the scrappy puma refuses to tangle with him. At one time he was lord of the land and then came Man‑the‑Hunter with his rifles. The grizzly dwindled in numbers and the old king learned to avoid us. He has become shy and tends to keep to the back trails, out of sight.
He is so shy that naturalists have found it hard to discover his habits. Like all the bears who live in regions of severe winters, the grizzly goes into hiding during the cold months. Come fall, he stuffs himself with salmon, with the red meat from deer, with berries, honey and tender green leaves. He needs an extra layer of fat, for food will soon be scarce.
Around November, the grizzly finds a den, a cave or sheltered cranny, He goes to sleep but he does not pass into the deep coma which is true hibernation, If the roof leaks, he may go grumpily forth to find a better shelter. If all goes well, he dozes until the April sunshine brings back the spring.
The mother and father bears sleep in separate dens, Around January, Mama may give birth to one, two or three cubs, A new‑born grizzly is a helpless little fellow weighing about eight ounces and only nine inches long. But the cubs are cozily nestled in the shaggy coat of their dozing Mama and plentifully fed on mothers milk. The mother and cubs stay in hiding two or three weeks longer than the father bear. The cute cubs are now sturdy enough to toddle a few steps outdoors, to see the world and start their education in bearcraft.
We need to know more about the mighty grizzly, but no sensible person wishes to ask him personal questions face to face. So a team of scientists worked out a way to satisfy their curiosity and ours without danger to themselves or the bear. A bear is sighted and shot with a sleeping gas and he is examined and tagged while unconscious.