APPENDIX G
SOME BEAR FACTS
Typical Ten-minute Talk Given at Yosemite Resorts by C. P. Russell, Park Naturalist

Each day at the Yosemite Museum hundreds of questions are asked. Some of them pertain to Indians; some to the formation of Half Dome and other geological features; some to birds; some to snakes; and a great many to bears and other animals of the park. I am going to answer some of these bear questions now.
Yosemite visitors are always interested in bears. This interest is never failing, for bears may be seen by all. You will see bears of apparently two kinds, but they are all of the same species. Black bears or brown bears—they are both of the species known to scientists as Ursus americanus, the American Black Bear, which occurs from the extreme north down into Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The brown is but a color phase of the typical black, and a black bear mother may give birth to a brown and a black cub.
Do not permit anyone to convince you that we have grizzly bears in Yosemite. There was a time when the grizzly was common here; in fact, the name Yosemite was derived from the Indian name for grizzly bear. The great State of California saw fit to emblazon upon her state flag the figure of a grizzly, and the same figure appears upon the California state seal. But the animal that was so characteristic of the State as to receive this prominence and recognition has long since been exterminated so far as California is concerned. It is one of the animals in the long list of those we would save if it were not too late.
When the snow begins to fly, Yosemite bears seek a warm hole in which to spend the winter. The fall is spent in getting excessively fat. When the time for hibernation comes, the bear crawls into his cave or hollow log, and the snow and ice seal him in tight as he sleeps. In some cases he could not get out of his icebound shell if he wanted to. Unlike the ground squirrel, the bear does not become rigid in this winter sleep. The bodily processes are rather active all through hibernation. The female actually gives birth to young during this winter sleep. The cubs are tiny things at birth, no longer than one’s hand and weigh twelve ounces or less, or about 1/200th of the mother’s weight. A human baby is about 1/20th of the mother’s weight. It is fortunate for the mother bear that her cubs are so tiny, for she must nurse them for weeks before she may come out to search for food. It is easy to understand why a mother bear is cross when she emerges from her winter quarters. Bears with small cubs may usually be seen by summer visitors in Yosemite.
Male bears apparently take no interest in family matters. During the mating season the males have the habit of making signs on certain trees. They rear up on their hind legs, reach as far up the trunk as possible with front legs, and scratch and chew the bark to shreds. It is supposed that these marks serve to inform passing bears that the territory is occupied. All bears seem to delight in climbing the smooth trunks of the Quaking Aspen and invariably leave their tracks indelibly engraved in the milky-white bark. “Bears Sign Post” and bear tracks on tree trunks may always be seen in the Aspen forest on the shores of Merced Lake.
Let me warn you that while in Yosemite you are apt to see so many bears that they will become commonplace to you. You will meet them on the trails in broad daylight; you will find them about your camp both at night and during the day; at the feeding platform you will find them in numbers; and in late summer when the fruit is ripe, a dozen at one time may visit the old apple orchards that were set out by pioneers of Yosemite.
The animals are so numerous and you will witness so many people taking liberties with the great beasts, that you, too, are apt to become familiar with them. No bear, no matter how tame, should be approached by a tourist. Understand, I am not attempting to develop a general fear of the interesting animals. They are as harmless as well-behaved dogs if they are not tampered with. But it is positively dangerous to feed a bear from one’s hands. You may believe that you are performing a kindness, and it will seem to you that the bear understands. But remember there is no human reasoning in the brain of a bear. Perhaps you may be a trifle slow in producing the second or third piece of candy; your bear may be temperamental. What to him may be but an impatient slap may to you be a crushing blow that will disfigure for life.
Few accidents of this sort have yet occurred in Yosemite, but park officials live in dread of what may happen if visitors develop a contemptuous disregard for the bears’ great strength. Bears are not to be feared but they should be respected. Feed no Yosemite bears from your hands!
Apparently, bears are becoming more numerous within the park, but if hunters continue to do what they did last year, the bear population will not increase rapidly. Many park bears wander beyond the park limits. Last fall hunters met these park-tamed bears at the park boundary and killed them for their pelts. At least nine were killed at the east edge of the park, and I have knowledge of twenty that were trapped or shot in the Stanislaus National Forest along the west boundary.
A few years ago those of us who would save California wildlife assets for future generations, felt that a mistake was being made in permitting the killing of bears during even a few months of the year. Imagine, then, with what amazement we learned that our lawmakers of the last California Legislature had removed all protection from this last member of the animal family which gave us the name “Bear State.” This unfortunate move was purely the result of politics. A comparatively few would-be sportsmen and misled stock-owners caused a law to be enacted which all true nature-lovers must unite to remove from our statutes.
Bears are not stock killers.
Statistics show that only rarely have bears been known to kill large animals.. They do habitually feed upon the carcasses of animals killed by coyotes and mountain lions. Sometimes stockmen witness this feast on carrion and jump to the conclusion that the bear did the killing.
Bears are worth much more from an aesthetic standpoint, roaming at will through our forests, than they are worth dead. Under present conditions, the same comical cub whose antics you enjoyed today may be legally killed when it crosses the Yosemite boundary. Age, sex, or season mean nothing to bear hunters, for no legal protection whatever is afforded the animal. We feel certain that most citizens of California are uninformed in this matter of bear slaughter and we overlook no opportunity to arouse the interest of park visitors.
Let me urge that you voice your sentiments to your assemblymen and senators, and when laws are again made at Sacramento, the Black Bear will be recognized as an asset, not a scourge.
(Time remaining is given to announcement of bus trip to bear feeding platform, invitation to visit the Yosemite Museum, and announcement of Ranger-Naturalist Service).