text x_quick_Title2=Class: Mammalia~Order: Carnivora~Family: Ursidae~(Ursus arctos)
text x_quick=Where In the World~` There are between 800 and 1,000 grizzly bears in the wild in the U.S. outside of Alaska. There are plenty of grizzlies in Alaska, they aren't endangered there.~` In the lower 48 states, grizzlies are found in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. They're also found in Canada and Alaska.~` Grizzly bears were once found from the Mississippi River westward and from central Mexico north through Alaska.~` Although no one knows for sure, naturalists believe that there may have been as many as 100,000 grizzlies in the lower 48 states in the early 1800s.~ ~Take a Look!~` Grizzlies are really big! The very biggest adult males are six or seven feet long, and stand almost nine feet tall when they rear up on their back feet.~` The largest grizzlies can weigh up to 1,000 pounds - most weigh between 300 and 850 pounds.~` Females are smaller than males.~` As big as a grizzly is, the Kodiak bear of Alaska is even bigger - it's longer, and weighs more.~` Grizzlies can be almost sand-coloured (on the plains) to dark brown. Their hair is tipped in silver, giving them a grizzled look. That's where their name comes from.~` There's a distinctive hump on the grizzly's back - it's where a large bunch of powerful muscles meet.~ ~All in the Family~` Grizzlies are part of the bear family. Their closest relatives are the Kodiak bear, the brown bear, and the American black bear.~ ~Just the Facts~` Grizzlies are too big and their coats are too thick for the bears to really like hot weather. In the summer, they usually find a covered spot and nap during the hottest part of the day. They're most active around dawn and at dusk.~` Grizzlies sleep through the winter. They don't truly hibernate - if they need to, they can wake up and become aware quickly.~` Grizzly bears can, and do, eat almost anything, from insects and grass to elk, moose, and mountain sheep. Salmon seem to be a special treat.~` Mother grizzly can have from one to four cubs, but usually she has two.~` The female is a loyal mother, and her cubs will stay with her for at least two years. Some may stay for three or four years. Even after they leave, cubs may travel and hunt together for another year or so.~` Once they're fully grown, grizzlies aren't very tolerant of each other. They'd rather be alone.~` In the wild, grizzlies can live from 25 to 30 years. A bear in captivity lived for a reported 50 years.
;Habitat
text x_hab= Grizzly bears like to have a lot of room, and prefer to be far away from their nearest grizzly neighbour. In the best of all worlds, each grizzly would like to have a home range of 800 to 1,000 square miles. The perfect habitat has plenty of woodland areas, where the grizzly can stay cool in hot weather, and occasional grasslands and meadows. The grizzly won't venture far into the meadows - it's too shy and likes to stay near the cover of the forest - but it likes to vary its diet with meadow grasses and roots and some of the small animals and insects that live in grasslands. If the home range is in the mountains, the bear will come down to lower areas in the winter, where storms aren't so severe. When the weather warms with the coming of spring, the bear will head back up to higher elevations. ~\
There aren't too many places left in the lower 48 states that can fill all these requirements, and the lack of good "bear country" is the biggest reason there are so few grizzlies left in the U.S. outside of Alaska (probably fewer than a thousand grizzlies in all). Almost all the grizzlies left below the Canada border live on national parks where their habitat is protected (and tourists are protected from the bears). Grizzlies are found in some of the national parks, wilderness areas and national forests of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington state. These lands are managed by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. There are also some grizzlies on native American lands, which are managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. ~\
;Food
text x_eat= Grizzly bears just love to eat. Almost anything will do - they'll even eat carrion (dead animals killed by someone or something else). Great big grizzly bears will claw away happily at an ant hill and catch as many of the scurrying ants as they can. You wouldn't think a big grizzly could make much of a meal out of ants, but they must taste good enough to the bear to be worth the effort. The bears also use their strong, long claws to dig for good roots and tubers. Grizzlies eat berries and pine nuts, they munch on some grasses like grazing animals do, and they'll eat bark, just like a rabbit will. ~ \
Of course, a grizzly likes meat, too, including small mammals and deer. Some bears hunt for really big animals, like moose and elk, mountain sheep, goats, and even black bears. Grizzlies may look like big, lumbering animals that are too large to run anything down, but a grizzly bear can surprise you. They can run up to 30 miles an hour for short distances. (That's about as fast as cars are supposed to go in most suburban neighbourhoods, and a lot faster than cars can usually go in a city!) Once they've gotten near their prey, they take a fast swipe at the animal's head with a great big paw. Grizzlies are so strong that just one swat from that strong arm can kill a cow. ~\
But there's one thing grizzlies really love, and that's salmon. In fact, a grizzly would rather catch and eat salmon than stay away from other grizzlies. Some salmon streams in Alaska are great places for long-distance bear watching, since whole groups of bears will line the stream banks to catch fish - each bear deliberately pretending he or she can't see the bears on each side. Some bears reach in and scoop out the four-foot-long fish with their paws, some wade in and bite at the water. In many places, small waterfalls force the salmon to jump out of the water to get upstream. Those places are hotly contested by the bears because a quick bear can just stand there and swat fish out of the air onto the banks. Sometimes they don't swat - they just open their mouths and chomp right onto the salmon. As far as the bears are concerned, a stream with migrating salmon in the spring is just about heaven!
;Habits and Characteristics
text x_life= If you were hiking through "bear country," you might be afraid of meeting up with a grizzly bear and you'd have reason to be nervous about it, because grizzlies can be dangerous. But know who would be even more afraid than you? The bear! The grizzly would much rather run away than face you, so usually you can avoid grizzlies by making plenty of noise as you hike along. Some people talk or sing as they go, some tie "bear bells" to their legs which ring with every step. Then the bear can hear you coming and get out of the way. ~\
The only grizzlies that attack are ones that are surprised into it. They can't see very well, so if a hiker comes upon a grizzly suddenly, the bear might not be able to tell what's just come around the bend in the trail. And for something as big as a grizzly, the best rule always is, when in doubt - attack. Mother grizzlies are the most dangerous because they'll face just about anything to defend their cubs. Mum is so fiercely loyal to her babies that she's more dangerous than any male, even though she's smaller than the male is. ~\
She has her cubs in the coldest part of the winter. Usually she has two cubs, but she can have as many as four. Grizzly bear cubs are tiny when they're born - about the size of a guinea pig. But they grow quickly. The cubs and their mother stay in a cozy den for the rest of the winter. By the time spring comes around, the cubs weigh about 50 pounds and are big enough to explore the world around them. They follow their mother wherever she goes, and she teaches them how to hunt and what plants taste good. They stay with her for the next two years. If she doesn't have another litter of cubs, they might stay with her for three or four years. Eventua
