Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth EditionHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
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Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth Edition
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
New York Zoological Park
A very beautiful male Silver-Tip, from Wyoming, is much lighter in color
than the Colorado specimen. Its face and head are so light-colored it
would be called by Rocky Mountain hunters a “Bald-Faced” Grizzly. A
third specimen was obtained for the Society at White Horse, Yukon
Territory, in 1905, and its development will be watched with much
interest. Throughout the Rocky Mountain region the “Silver-Tip” and the
“Grizzly” are identical; but the color of the species varies
considerably.
In a wild state Grizzly Bears live on berries and fruits of all kinds
available, succulent roots, grubs, carrion if it comes handy, and live
game if it can be killed. In the cattle-growing states bordering the
Rocky Mountains, owing to their cattle-killing propensities, a bounty of
from twelve to fifteen dollars per head is paid for their destruction.
The Black Bear, (_Ursus americanus_).—Until quite recently all black
bears in North America were referred to a single species, with the type
of which most persons are familiar. Even during the last twenty years
living representatives of the Black Bear group have been found in nearly
every state and territory of the United States, and also in northern
Mexico, Labrador, Province of Quebec, Alberta, Assiniboia, British
Columbia, Alaska, and the Mackenzie River basin. Our collection contains
Black Bears representing several widely separated localities.
The Spectacled Bear, (_Ursus ornatus_).—After ten years of constant
effort the Zoological Park finally acquired late in 1910, a fine male
specimen of the very rare and little known Spectacled Bear of the Andes
of Ecuador and Peru. This zoological prize was procured for us in Quito,
by Mr. Edgar Beecher Bronson (Author of “In Closed Territory,”) and by
him presented to the Society. “Frederico” is distinguished by a glossy
jet-black coat, very small ears, long feet and a large imperfect circle
of white around each eye, with white bands down the cheeks and throat.
In size it matches a small American black bear. As soon as the new bear
dens are finished, this animal will be removed from the Small-Mammal
House to one of them. If this species was ever before exhibited in North
America, we have never heard of it.
The Andean Black Bear, (_Ursus ornatus thomasi_), from Southern
Columbia, South America, is a subspecies of the spectacled bear, with no
“spectacles” around its eyes, and no white markings save under its chin
and throat. This specimen is smaller than the one from Quito.
Practically nothing is known of the habits of these two species.
The Brown Bear of Europe, (_Ursus arctos_), is represented by two
specimens from Central Russia which bear a general resemblance to Rocky
Mountain grizzlies. This is so striking that were they not labeled very
few persons would suspect their European birth. They have the high
shoulders and grizzly brown coat of the silver-tip, and in the Rocky
Mountains would be considered good examples of _Ursus horribilis_.
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