The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal Observations

He who cannot make bears comfortable, contented and happy should not keep any. A large collection of bears of many species properly installed may be relied upon to reveal many variations of temperament and mentality, from the sanguine and good-natured stoic to the hysterical demon. Captivity brings out many traits of character that in a wild state are either latent or absent. Prominent Traits of Prominent Species. After twenty years of daily observation we now know that The grizzly is the most keen-minded species of all bears. The big Alaskan brown bears are the least troublesome in captivity. The polar bear lives behind a mask, and is not to be trusted. The black bear is the nearest approach to a general average in ursine character. The European brown bears are best for training and performances. The Japanese black bear is nervous, cowardly and hysterical; the little Malay sun bear is the most savage and unsatisfactory. The Lesson of the Polar and Grizzly. The polar bears of the north, and the Rocky Mountain grizzlies, a hundred years ago were bold and aggressive. That was in the days of the weak, small-bore, muzzle-loading rifles, black powder and slow firing. Today all that is changed. All those bears have recognized the fearful deadliness of the long-range, high-power repeating rifle, and the polar and the grizzly flee from man at the first sight of him, fast and far. No grizzly attacks a man unless it has been attacked, or wounded, or cornered, or thinks it is cornered. As an exception, Mr. Stefansson observed two or three polar bears who seemed to be quite unacquainted with man, and but little afraid of him.