Grizzly bears are the world's largest terrestrial carnivores. The most revered animal hunted by the Tlingit, the large brown grizzly bear, Ursus horribilis, was looked on with great consideration, not only as a dangerous antagonist, but because of its connection with man in the legendary past. Powerful and fearsome, the largest of land animals is a formidable creature but also one of the most vulnerable species on earth.

During the 4-8 months spent outside of their dens, grizzlies consume large amounts of food--26 to 35 lbs a day. The omnivorous diet is dominated by vegetation, primarily succulent herbage, tubers, and berries. Insect grubs, small rodents, salmon, trout, carrion, young hoofed mammals, and livestock are all taken as the opportunity arises.

Adept salmon fishers, grizzly bears catch their prey with teeth or claws and usually take it ashore before delicately stripping off the flesh, first on one side, then the other, leaving behind the head, bones, and tail.

Bears rely on their acute sense of smell more than their hearing and sight, and when surveying their surroundings, they often assume an upright posture; otherwise, they travel on all fours. The soles of their feet are broad, flat, and armed with five long, curved, non-retractable claws.

Bears from colder regions enter a period of winter dormancy during which time the cubs are born. This behavior is not true hibernation, as body temperature and pulse rate do not drop. However, the bears do not eat during this time but live off fat built up during a period of enormous appetite in the fall. There are two reasons for this winter lethargy. The bears' primary food source--succulent vegetation--is not available in the cold northern winters. Secondly, the cubs are so small at birth that they cannot regulate their own body temperature; the snug environment of the den provides the warmth necessary to prevent death.

Hunting and loss of habitat have wiped out the grizzly bear over much of its range, and it is endangered in many areas. Bears that venture into man's ever-expanding domain are often killed because of the threat (real or imagined) to livestock.