Bears -- the Big Furry Kind -- Not the Teddy Bears
Ranked #8,609 in Pets & Animals, #217,220 overall
Bears have played a major part in my life since as long as I remember--even before when I can remember!
My folks tell about when I was in my crib one afternoon at our home in a small town near Glacier Park, Montana, that bordered a dense forest by the Swan River. My mom heard a strange noise coming from my room. When she came into the room to check on me, there was a large bear on its hind feet peeking through my bedroom window at me. Of course, my mom screamed and the bear high-tailed it out of there. I was too young to remember this, but my dad and mom told and retold the story plenty of times when I was growing up.
Dad and mom had moved to Montana from the U.S. East Coast, and for them, it was a major adventure in the wild, wild west. They had many bear stories... and these stories were supplemented by the stories from my adopted grandpa and grandma who were our next-door neighbors. My adopted grandpa had married a member of the Flathead Indian tribe--Native American--and their house was always full of not only real stories about bears, but also the Native American legends of the bears. Grandpa and grandma always loved telling their stories about bears to me and my sister.
This Squidoo lens provides some information, references, links, and photos of these amazing creatures. Drop a note before you leave!
Bears as decoration (not real bears, of course!)
The Bear Facts
First and foremost: Bears in the wild (and even in captivity) are WILD ANIMALS. Treat them with respect and with proper safety precautions!Bears have extremely good senses of smell. They can smell food (or, to them, what seems to be food) from a great distance away. If you are traveling in bear country, be sure to keep your food in air-tight, sealable and lockable containers, such as metal ice-chests. Keep the food in these containers and OUT OF SIGHT in the trunk of your vehicle or under a flat (not rumpled) cover -- perhaps hidden by curtains (if you don't have a trunk). The reason why you must keep the food OUT OF SIGHT is because many bears in highly traveled areas have learned that these containers may contain food. And the bears are quite capable of breaking the windows of a car to get inside to get the potential food out of those containers.
Bears may look like large, slow animals... but they have been clocked at 35 miles per hour! Keep your distance from them. DO NOT APPROACH A BEAR--and particularly a bear with CUBS! Bears are extremely protective of their young--and will charge and maul to death anyone or anything that comes close to their cubs. Even worse, if you get between them and their cubs--they will rip through you to get to their cubs. If you are wondering about the photos in this lens, all pictures were taken with a telephoto lens from a very far and safe distance away from the animals.
Bears are NOT human... and no matter how "cute" and "fuzzy" they may look, they are NOT friendly and they are NOT anything like "Yogi Bear!" This means that you should NEVER offer a peanut-butter jelly sandwich (or any other food) to a bear--they'll take your arm off if given half a chance. Like what was said before, keep your distance from bears and keep your food sealed up and out of sight when traveling through bear country. Admire them from a distance and if a bear approaches your car, safely drive away and get out of the area. If you have a convertible, this is all the more important--because bears can easily shred convertible soft-tops.
Black bear female with cub, Ketchikan, Alaska
Bears by the Bay... eBay, That Is!
Grizzley bears may look large and slow, but they have been clocked at running 35 miles per hour. How fast can YOU run?
The Bear Stories
Grandpa's Bear RugMy adopted grandpa and grandma lived next door to our home in the wilds of Montana just a few miles south of Glacier National Park and near the Flathead Indian reservation. And he always had plenty of opportunities to see bears.
My grandpa was a lumberjack and spent most of his days wearing the (almost classic stereotype now) plaid flannel shirt, blue-jeans with suspenders, heavy-duty boots, thick leather gloves that extended almost all the way up his forearm, and a yellow metal helmet. In his barn, he had a large assortment of chain-saws--ranging from the small 18-inch-blades to the huge, almost 4-foot-blades. But in addition to being a lumberjack, he also worked part-time as a wilderness guide for folks who wanted to hunt or otherwise explore the wild wildernesses of western Montana (he was a guide for the famed western artist, Charles Russell -- and had some of Charles "Charlie" Russell's paintings of wildlife and Native Americans in his living room).
On one of his guiding excursions with a group of men hunting for elk, they encountered a large grizzley bear that attacked their hunting party and their horses while they were preparing the elk they had downed. The bear smelled the blood of the downed elk, and the men had no choice but to shoot the bear. Grandpa was only the guide for the elk hunters--and therefore had not shot any elk. But since he got in the most shots to the bear, he wound up preparing the bear. They had a lot of meat to carry, and luckily they had some packhorses to help carry that stuff back home. Grandpa also admitted that he liked eating bear meat (which, according to some, doesn't taste good).
This happened a few years before I was born... so when I was growing up and visiting grandpa and grandma's house, my sister and I could always play on this huge bear rug on their living room floor. The size of the head, the size of the fangs, and the size of the claws on the bear's feet were always fascinating to me. And grandpa would always launch into his bear stories when us kids asked questions about the bear rug.
Dad's Encounter with a Bear Behind
During the time we lived in Montana, my dad was out in back of the house (facing the forest) chopping wood and mom was gathering the pieces for our fireplace. A black bear came out of the woods and started approaching dad.
Mom ran back to the house while dad yelled at the bear. The bear stopped for a minute and just watched. Dad stomped his feet and yelled, and the bear ran away a bit. Dad approached the bear some more and stomped his feet, and the bear ran to the edge of the woods. Dad ran forward a bit and stomped his feet and yelled... and the bear ran into the woods. Dad went to the edge of the woods and stomped his feet, clapped his hands, and yelled. The bear ran deeper into the woods. Dad went into the woods, clapped his hands, whistled and yelled, and stomped his feet. And the bear ran deeper into the woods. Dad was sort of caught up in his chase here... and moved further into the woods... yelled, clapped, and stomped his feet.
However, this time, the bear just turned around and stared at dad. Then the bear raised its lips, bared its teeth, and started to growl. Dad started backing up. Slowly at first, then turned and ran like crazy--with the bear coming through the woods at full charge. Dad was screaming at mom to open the door to the house, but by that time, as dad was clearing the edge of the woods, mom had locked the door and closed all the windows. Dad made it to the front steps of the house and started banging on the door, screaming that if mom didn't open the door, he'd be coming through the door anyway.
Dad quickly turned to face the bear... who, surprised by seeing dad turn around to face it, skidded to a stop in the grass. Dad stomped his feet, clapped his hands, and yelled again ... and the bear ran back towards the woods. Then dad yelled for mom to open the door. Mom finally opened the door and dad rushed in. But from then on, dad never stayed outside the house doing chores without having a bit more protection--such as a pistol or rifle--close by.
Bears in Motion -- On Video, at Least!
Deadly Passion - Tragedy in Katmai
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Kodiak - The Island of the Great Bear
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A Guide to Brown Bear Country
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Brown form of the American black bear, in Ruidoso, New Mexico
The Bear Legends
The powerful bear is one of the largest mammals on land (exceeded perhaps only by the moose and some elk) -- and it IS the largest carnivore -- with its awe-inspiring fangs and claws, its speed, and its brute force. So it's only natural that the Native Americans and others in other lands that have bears have built their folk tales, legends, and beliefs around this animal.
The Native American peoples -- the tribes that span from Florida to New York and Canada on the U.S. East Coast as well as the tribes that are scattered among the U.S. interior, to the tribes of the U.S. West Coast spanning from southern California all the way past Seattle, Washington and through Canada to Alaska -- have dramatic stories about the bears. Their many families have formed clans around the bear and other animals in their environment.
To the Native Americans -- the bear is powerful medicine -- having bear claws or bear teeth as part of a necklace as a reminder of a near-fatal encounter with a bear (fatal, unfortunately, for the bear) was a sign of great power in battle and the ability to survive great opposition.
When a grizzley bear this size notices you, you better be in a very safe place! LIke inside a fast car or truck (Army Tank?).
Reading Up on Bears is Quite Bearable!
Bear-ology: Fascinating Bear Facts, Tales & Trivia by Sylvia Dolson
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Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? (Japanese Edition) by Bill Martin
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The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich
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Skazki o ezhike i medvezhonke (Tales about the hedgehog and the bear cub) - in Russian language by Sergei Kozlov
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Fighting for your Life: Man-eater Bears by Tom Hron
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Bears : Polar Bears, Black Bears and Grizzly Bears (Kids Can Press Wildlife Series) by Deborah Hodge
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Backcountry Bear Basics: The Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters (Mountaineers Outdoor Basics) by Dave Smith
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In the Presence of Grizzlies: The Ancient Bond Between Men and Bears by Doug Peacock, Andrea Peacock
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Living With Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country by Linda Masterson
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Bears: A Year in the Life by Matthias Breiter
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Mark of the Grizzly: True Stories of Recent Bear Attacks and the Hard Lessons Learned by Scott McMillion
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Bear Attacks of the Century: True Stories of Courage and Survival by Larry Mueller, Marguerite Reiss
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Masha and the Bear, The Three Little Pigs and Other Tales (in Russian language)
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If you are posing with a bear behind, this kind of bear in Victoria, British Columbia, is the safest way to go. It's not hungry.
by EditorDave
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The largest carnivore walking on earth -- the Kodiak Bear ...
Giant Bears of Kodiak Island
Amazon Price: $19.93 (as of 05/30/2012)
If you want to see these critters in action, but you'd rather not see them when you are a few feet from them with nothing between you, then this video will give you those glimpses of these amazing creatures without the claw marks.
We're not rushing you into getting this, but if you'd like the bear facts in Russian, this is a good start!
Masha and the Bear: First Meeting (book & CD in Russian language)
Amazon Price: (as of 05/30/2012)
Masha and the bear... a Russian folk story -- provided in book form and audio CD ... in the Russian language. What a great way to learn about bears and enjoy the Russian cultural experience at the same time!
Legendary Bears in Native American Stories
Giving Voice to Bear: North American Indian Myths, Rituals, and Images of the Bear
Amazon Price: $12.45 (as of 05/30/2012)
The legends told and retold by Native Americans amongst their peoples has carried long over the generations--many of these stories have been captured here for your enjoyment.
