Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/723

BEAR. change to white in winter, as is the case with most Arctic animals. It is one of the largest of bears, and has an elongated neck and straight head, so that specimens may exceed 9 feet from nose to tail. Its limbs are comparatively slender, its feet disproportionately long and hairy upon the soles, giving it a firm hold upon the ice and power in swimming. Its food is mainly seals, which it captures both on land (or ice) and in the water, with great activity and cunning; but it also feeds upon such fish as it can catch in shallows or find dead, and in summer it regales itself on marine grass. Its sense of smell enables it to detect concealed food, and Arctic travelers find it difficult to build ‘caches’ strong enough to withstand its efforts. Although a dweller in the coldest and most wintry part of the globe, this bear is abroad at all seasons, and brings forth its young in no better chamber than a cavern scratched in the snow, which may cover the mother and her nursing young for many days before she is able to lead forth the cubs.

The has been well known in captivity, as well as wild, ever since the days of the Roman arena, and it is still a resident in every ‘zoo’ and the docile companion of wandering ‘bear-tamers.’ It survived in Great Britain until nearly the Twelfth Century, and is still to be found in the Pyrenees, eastern Alps, and thence through Russia, Syria, and Central and Northern Asia to the Himalayas and Kamchatka. It is probable, also, that the so-called barren-ground bear of the Hudson Bay region and the great brown bears of Alaska (see below) are geographical races of this species, of which, also, the almost white isabelline, or snow bear, of the Himalayas, and the Syrian bear (mentioned in the Bible and still ranging the mountains of Palestine) are local varieties. Everywhere it is a solitary denizen of forests and mountains, affording good sport in Europe, and of great service to the barbarians of northeastern Asia, who depend largely upon it for food and clothing. It is too well known to require particular description. For its history as an object of ancient sport and its employment in ‘bear baiting,’ etc., consult Harting, British Animals Extinct Within Historic Times (London, 1880).

The (Ursus torquatus) and the  (Ursus japonicus) are rather smaller species, usually glossy black. They resemble the American black bears, and are held in high respect by sportsmen.

The, or (Ursus Malayanus), of the Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, represents a distinct genus (Helarctus), in the view of many students, which is known also by several fossil species, including the huge (Ursus spelæus) of ancient Europe, supposed to have been exterminated by prehistoric man. The size is much less than that of either the brown or the sloth-bear, the head broad and short, the fur short and close, and the tongue and lips remarkably strong and flexible. With this go very long, strong claws, fitted for tearing to pieces ant-hills and other insect retreats, whose inhabitants are easily gathered by means of the extensile, glutinous mouth. It inhabits dense mountain jungles and climbs expertly. Its color is black, marked with a white crescent (orange in the Bornean variety) on the breast. It is peaceably inclined, but fierce and aggressive

when brought to bay, rising upon its hind legs and attacking with its long, sharp claws; but taken young, or bred in captivity, it becomes an amusing and somewhat intelligent ally of the showman. One kept as a pet by Sir Stafford Raffles, the most prominent of the early English governors and describers of Malaya, has become famous in ursine chronicles.

The, , or (Ursus, or Melursus, labiatus) is a species inhabiting the jungles of all Peninsular India and Ceylon, and is the juggler's bear of that region, where its facial grimaces and generally comical appearance are of great service to the wandering showman. This quaintness of countenance is due to the toothless condition of the front of the gums, where the incisors are lost in early youth, and to the fact that the lips are very long, and they and the whole snout are soft, extensile, and mobile to a surprising degree. These and other features are so pronounced that this bear has been separated in the genus Melursus by most students. It is submissive and teachable in captivity; but in freedom, when it habitually makes its home in some rocky cave in the jungle, it is brave and held in much respect by hunters. Its size equals that of the brown bear, yet it climbs about fruit-trees with great ease. Its fur is peculiar, long, shaggy, and unkempt, remotely suggesting that of a sloth, and black in color, except for the whiteness of the muzzle and space about the eyes and a conspicuous V-shaped white mark on the breast. It seems to eat very little flesh, but lives mainly on fruit and insects, especially ants, termites, and the combs of honey-bees, in securing which its extensile lips and tongue find their special use; hence the term ‘honey-bear.’

The are confusingly alike, and conservative naturalists are unwilling to admit the reality of so many species as are distinguished in the list below. It is even questioned whether the Spectacled Bear (Ursus ornatus) of the high forests of the central Andes be not merely an isolated variety of the black bear, distinguished by its small size and the yellowish, goggle-like rings around its eyes. The latest account of the North American Ursidæ (Elliot, Synopsis of the Mammals of North America, Chicago, 1901) makes the following list of subgenera and species, following the views of Dr. C. Hart Merriam: Polar Bear, Ursus (Thalassarctus) maritimus; Kadiak Bear, Ursus (Ursus) Middendorffi; Dall's Bear, Ursus (Ursus) Dalli; Grizzly Bear, Urus (Danis) horribilis; Barren-ground Bear, Ursus (Danis) Richardsoni; Black Bear, Ursus (Euarctus) Americanus, Louisiana Bear, Ursus (Euarctus) Iuteolus; Florida Bear, Ursus (Euarctus) Floridans; Glacier Bear, Ursus (Euarctus) Emmonsi.

The attains the largest size of all known hears, and is the most bulky of carnivores, specimens not regarded as the heaviest having weighed 1200 pounds; many, however, are comparatively small. This huge species was discovered to science about 1895, on Kadiak Island, Alaska, where it is said to be numerous, but hard to get; and it is also believed to range the forested mountains of the neighboring mainland. It seems to subsist mainly on fish, which it scoops from the water with its paws, especially at the season when the streams are filled with salmon and other species ascending them to