The following is a guest post by the talented and old Animal of the blog Animal Magnetism. Topics typically discussed at Animal Magnetism include news of the day, outdoor life and wildlife, “The Manly Arts,” and (no surprise if you are already familiar with the gentleman in question) a healthy dose of Totty, otherwise known as The Feminine Aesthetic.
Photo by BrassyDel, Grizzly is a resident of the Denver Zoo
Today’s toothy, furry critter is of course Ursus arctos horribilus, the Grizzly Bear, an animal I identify with due to similarities in appearance and disposition and a shared love of salmon fishing. Thus my use of griz in online articles and avatars.
The Griz is one of North America’s remaining megafauna. They originally roamed over most of the United States west of the Mississippi, into Mexico and as far north as the Arctic Ocean. Unlike the smaller and more common black bear, griz are creatures of wild places and tend not to live near people without interactions that are often unfortunate for bear and people.
While they have been re-established in some places in the Mountain West now, in the U.S. griz are most often found in Alaska. They range well into the arctic there, sometimes interbreeding with polar bears, although more commonly the territorial griz will drive the nomadic polar bears out of an area. Along the coast their salmon-rich diet has given rise to the larger Alaskan brown bear subspecies.
Griz use a survival strategy that was also adopted by some of our earlier and more successful ancestors; they are omnivores, able to eat damn near anything and thus survive in almost any habitat.
That’s another reason I identify with them. While the Old Man and my grandpas gifted me with some pretty good outdoor skills, it is more the ‘eat anything’ part that I have in common with the great bears.
