Grizzly Bears

Humans have a love hate relationship with bears. We are drawn to their cuteness and have made toys, movies and books that depict all kinds of bears. Humans from all over the world travel to Yellowstone National Park to see the Grizzly bears in the wild. They are members of the brown bear family and the second largest animal in the bear kingdom. They are the apex predators in most of the places where they live with humans as their only threat to survival. An apex predator is the animal at the top of the food chain. Grizzly bears have huge bodies and that means they have to have huge appetites to survive. These bears are good athletes, good parents and good for the environment. 

Grizzlies used to live all across the western states and from Canada to Mexico. As settlers began to move toward the west coast in the 1800s they came face to face with this large animal. Although grizzly bears don’t hunt humans, they will attack if startled or they feel threatened, and they have been known to kill livestock. The settlers were afraid of the large bears and hunted them until they were almost extinct. The bears moved north into less populated places. Grizzly bears now range from the northwestern United States into northern Canada and Alaska. They are pretty particular about their home range and usually choose a place that has a river or large stream, some open prairies and meadows. 

Don’t try to outrun, outswim or outthink a grizzly because you will probably lose. They have adaptations that have occurred over the last 20,000 years that make this bear into the perfect athlete who has super powers. First, they have excellent memories and scientists think they are North America's smartest land animal. They can smell 2,000 times better than a human. This helps them sense danger and find food. They can run up to 35 miles per hour and their jaw strength is tremendous. Can you imagine being able to crush a bowling ball in one bite? Baby grizzly bears are very good tree climbers, especially if they feel threatened. Having strong claws and large feet gives this animal many advantages. They use their paws and claws for fishing, digging out winter dens and ripping bark off of dead trees looking for bugs to eat. Just in case you are thinking that you can swim better than a grizzly bear, think again. They can swim faster and further than most humans.

Grizzly bears store food away as fat to keep them insulated through the long northern winters. They can eat up to 90 pounds of food a day. Since they are always hungry this causes some very dangerous encounters with humans. When food is scarce bears will head into town and raid trash cans. Their sensitive nose can smell trash from miles away. As the grizzlies have moved farther north they have had many more encounters with polar bears. Recently scientists have realized that polar bears and grizzly bears are able to breed. This has caused a bear hybrid called the groller bear. No one knows for sure how many of these hybrids exist. When the two most dangerous bears have babies are the babies going to grow up meaner than their parents?