Hey! Who Invited The Bear? Part: 3
Having the opportunity to view wildlife in it’s natural habitat is just one of the major perks to what we love to do. But often not having an understanding of species can lead to misunderstanding, and mistakes with how to conduct ourselves. This is particularly true when it comes to encountering bears.
All wild animals should be treated with respect especially potentially dangerous animals. While there are many factors to avoid negative confrontations with bears probably the upmost is being able to identify the differences between species of bears. Depending on the kind determines the very different actions that should be taken.
Most common in the area of the United States is the Black and Grizzly bear. Here are descriptions of both.
Black Bear:
The Black bear is recognized by its (most common) black coat and medium size compared to other larger bears; although they’re also known to have “cinnamon” colored coats as well. Often they are rounder bodied and headed than Grizzlies with smaller snouts and possess much shorter claws. They also do not have the larger shoulder hump that makes the Grizzly easy to spot; they have a more naturally curved back. Black bears tend to range in length from 4 feet to just over 6 feet, and weighs between 130-500lbs in males and 90-330lbs in females. These bears also are the most common in this area, inhabiting much of the western and eastern United States.
Grizzly bear:
Their “grizzled” or salt, pepper, and predominantly golden brown coat distinguish Grizzly bears from the Black bear and even the reddish brown of the cinnamon Black bear. Grizzly’s are large bears and appear more lean or concave when compared to the Black bear. They boast large triangular heads with large and pronounced snouts and wield long claws. One key aspect of the physique of Grizzlies is the noticeable hump above their shoulders. Grizzly’s average size is 6.5ft and weight between 290-400lbs in females and 400-790lbs in males, but on occasion have been known to be found much larger even reaching almost 10ft tall (when standing on it’s hind legs) and weighing as much as 1,000lbs. Grizzly bears currently tend to inhabit the mountainous regions of northwest Wyoming and Montana and a small corner of northwest Washington State.
