True Bear Stories Part 15

With the different seasons the bear presents a varied appearance.

There are times when you would scarce recognize the same animal. In the autumn of the year the bear takes on fat in preparation for hibernating. At this time the fur is glossy and long, and in the grizzly almost a seal brown.

A curious phenomenon now takes place in the animal's digestive organs, which gives it the capability of remaining the entire winter in a state of lethargy, without food and yet without losing condition. As the stomach is no longer furnished with food, it soon becomes quite empty, and, together with the intestines, is contracted into a very small s.p.a.ce. No food can now pa.s.s through the system, for an obstruction, a mechanical one--technically called the "tappen"--blocks the entrance to the pa.s.sage and remains in this position until spring. The "tappen" is composed almost entirely of pine leaves and the various substances which the bear scratches out of the ants' nests or the hives of bees. During the season of hibernation, the bear gains a new skin on its feet. It will remain in its den until about the middle of April or the beginning of May, and will emerge almost as fat as when it entered, unless it has lost the "tappen" too soon.

It will now be seen that the fur has undergone a change. With the grizzly it has the real grizzly hue; with the brown or black bear it has a dead look. This is the hungry season for the bear, and until fall, when the berries are ripe and the salmon run in the streams, his bears.h.i.+p has a hard time of it. By the end of July and until the middle of August the fur undergoes a further change. The old coat is hanging upon him in shreds, he is much emaciated, and there is a hungry look in his eye. His ears appear abnormally large, and his paws seem enormous. When the berries are ripe and there are fish in the streams, the preparation for winter begins, the fur is sleek and greasy-looking again. Mr. Bear is fat and contented and ready to go into his long sleep.

When he awakes one of the first things he does is to suck his feet.

This is done because the skin is new and tender.

In the picture ill.u.s.trating the fight between the bear and the boy upon the log, the bear is shown as he appears during the emaciated season, a caricature of himself when well fed. The bear in captivity receives his food at regular intervals and in large quant.i.ties, and he loses many of the marked characteristics of the bear in his wild or untamed state. There is just as much difference between a society leader and a man who lives close to nature.