Montana State Mammal: Grizzly Bear

Nature, State Animals 3 Minutes

Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) are a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) found in inland Northern America. They are famous for their large size, weighing up to 360kg, and their often aggressive nature. They are apex predators, hunting large prey such as caribou, but they are also very opportunistic. They will eat carrion (already dead animals), salmon, berries and even clams. Their strong front legs are adapted both for running fast to catch prey, and for digging and foraging. They are primarily solitary, except for mothers with cubs. However, as many as 20 individuals can come together to hunt salmon that are moving upstream to spawn. Females live for around 26 years, which is longer than males who live for around 22 years on average.

Interesting Grizzly Bear Facts

1 They are a subspecies of the brown bear.

Grizzly bears are considered a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos). The main difference between them is in diet and geography. Brown bears are mainly coastal with access to marine foods, whereas grizzlies live further inland.

2 They are called “grizzly” both for their fur and their nature.

Their hair is grizzled, meaning silver tipped. However, it is believed they originally got their name after the word “grisly” meaning gruesome or scary. Their scientific classification ‘Ursus arctos horribilis‘ was also named after their ‘horrifying’ reputation by a naturalist in 1815.

3 They are apex predators.

This means they are at the top of the food chain. They hunt large mammals, such as moose, caribou, and bison, using their speed and strength to catch them.

4 Grizzly bears are also very opportunistic eaters.

They’ll also eat carrion (things that are already dead), forage for berries, dig into sand for razor clams, eat grass, and go fishing in rivers.

5 They come together to hunt salmon.

Every year grizzlies gather to fish for the salmon that are swimming upstream to spawn. As many as 20 can be seen in one spot, where they often catch salmon leaping out of the water with their paws.

6 They are huge.

Average length of grizzly bears is around 2 meters, with females weighing 130-180kg and males 180-360kg. However, some huge male grizzlies have been reported to stand as high as 3 meters (9.8 ft) and weighing up to 680kg!

7 They have a distinctive hump on their back.

This hump is actually a large muscle which controls their forearms.

8 Grizzlies claws are as long as human fingers.

They are up to 4 inches long.

9 They can run at 30 miles an hour.

Despite their large size, they can move fast. The large hump on their shoulders powers their fast-moving front legs. This is why they tell you if you bump into a grizzly, don’t try and run from it!

10 They hibernate for 5-7 months every year.

They’re well known for their hibernating habits. Bears will dig large dens which they curl up in to sleep for the coldest months of the year. However, bears in sunny California don’t hibernate as it’s not needed.

11 They give birth while hibernating.

Female grizzly bears give birth while hibernating. The grizzly cubs will stay in the den drinking milk until the end of winter.

12 They don’t become pregnant straight away.

Via a process of “delayed implantation”, embryos are stored until the mother has gained enough weight for hibernation.

13 They eat a lot of food before they hibernate.

They don’t eat while they’re hibernating, so they eat as much food as possible beforehand. Bears can gain as much as 400lb in weight before going into hibernation.

14 Grizzly bears don’t pee or poop during hibernation.

Throughout the whole of the 5-7 months they don’t go to the bathroom. They are actually able to turn excess urea (a component of urine) back into protein, meaning they actually gain muscle while hibernating.

15 Mama bears are fierce.

Mothers with young cubs will be very protective of their young, including fighting off larger male bears.

16 They will nurse their cubs for up to 3 years.

A mother will keep her cubs with her for as many as three years.

17 They need a lot of space.

Grizzlies in general range over large areas, as much as 1500 square km (~600 square miles). Males have large territories, which females roam through.

18 They are more dangerous to humans than sharks.

While sharks get all the media attention, bear attacks on humans are actually more common and numbers are actually on the rise. However, grizzly bears normally avoid contact with people and rarely actively hunt humans. Many of these attacks occur when people accidentally stumble upon mother bears with cubs. The rise in attacks is thought to be due to growing human use of grizzly bear habitat, and ‘problem bears’ who have associated humans with having potential ‘food’ near to them.

19 Grizzlies and wolves are competitors.

In places where the two overlap, like Yellowstone Park, they often compete fiercely over food.

20 They are a conservation success story.

Human expansion into grizzly habitat led to huge numbers in their decline, however after they were declared protected by the law in the USA, their numbers have bounced back.

SOURCE: FACTANIMAL.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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134 thoughts on “Montana State Mammal: Grizzly Bear”

  4. sync
    sync
    January 28, 2025 3:05 pm

    Kindergarten is in session. 🙂

    🇺🇸 “How many of the migrants that were deported have a criminal record?”

    Leavitt: “All of them, they broke our immigration laws.” pic.twitter.com/vpVMjlNcsP

    — Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 28, 2025

    Liked by 2 people

  7. WeThePeople2016

    January 28, 2025 3:26 pm

    Congratulations to Tennessee Legislators who are working hard to pass School Choice this week, which I totally support. We will very soon be sending Education BACK TO THE STATES, where it belongs. It is our goal to bring Education in the United States to the highest level, one that it has never attained before. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

    https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/113907637484810162

    Liked by 1 person

  8. ?????

    WeThePeople2016

    WeThePeople2016

    January 28, 2025 3:28 pm

    Leo Terrell reports the DOJ Building has been evacuated under an emergency order… and nobody knows why.

    https://rumble.com/v6efaz1-leo-terrell-reports-the-doj-building-has-been-evacuated-under-an-emergency-.html

    https://t.me/candlesinthenight/80061

    BREAKING: The Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. is being evacuated due to an unidentified threat.

    @GeneralMCNews

    https://t.me/GeneralMCNews/12156

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Red State: “President Trump has ordered the suspension of all federal grants, loans, and other financial programs pending a thorough agency review. The decision was announced in a two-page memo from the Office of Management and Budget titled “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.” According to the memo, it affects at least $3 trillion in federal outlays.

    The freeze refers to several Trump executive orders as the authority — Protecting the American People Against Invasion (Jan. 20, 2025), Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid (Jan. 20, 2025), Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements (Jan. 20, 2025), Unleashing American Energy (Jan. 20, 2025), Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (Jan. 20, 2025), Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Jan. 20, 2025), and Enforcing the Hyde Amendment (Jan. 24, 2025). It immediately ends funding for Green New Deal, NGO support, diversity, and foreign aid programs.

    To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that maybe implicated by any of the President’s executive orders. In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.

    The memo does not affect Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and grants, or social safety net payments to individuals, though some leftist politicians will undoubtedly make that claim.

    Panties are definitely wadded among those who live by suckling the federal teat.

    Donald Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, said the language in the memo is confusing, making its specific effects unclear. There will be widespread panic, Kettl said, as state and local governments as well as the people most reliant on federal-funded grants scramble to figure out if and when their cash flow will stop.

    “In two pages, we’ve got what amounts to 60 years of tradition and policies that are thrown up in the air,” said Kettl, who has consulted for multiple government agencies. “For those suffering most, the uncertainty will be immense.”

    The 90-day hold is well within the letter of the Impoundment Control Act and is sure to inconvenience some grantees. What it does is prevent the federal government from directly funding activities, like abortion and alien smuggling, that are against the stated policy of the administration.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Just The News: “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday clarified that an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo that went out Monday night is intended to target government programs that do not align with the new presidential administration, and will not impact direct assistance like Social Security and Medicare.

    The memo, which was originally expected to take effect on Tuesday evening, encompasses a slew of government assistance programs including foreign aid. The halt could still impact lower-income households that rely on Medicaid, school breakfast and lunch programs; and Section 8 rental assistance.

    “This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance,” Leavitt told reporters in her first briefing. “Individual assistance, that includes … Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause.”

    Leavitt claimed the new administration would be “good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” and already have blocked millions from going to the World Health Organization and other liberal policies that do not align with President Donald Trump’s agenda.

    “What does this pause mean? It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs,” the press secretary said. “It means no more funding for the Green New Scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies, no more funding for Green New Deal social engineering policies.”

    Democratic attorneys general in six states have announced that they will sue the Trump administration to block the order.

    “There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said, per the New York Post. “This policy will disrupt the lives of millions of Americans in New York and nationwide.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. “REINSTATING SERVICE MEMBERS DISCHARGED UNDER THE MILITARY’S COVID-19 VACCINATION MANDATE

    EXECUTIVE ORDER January 27, 2025

    Super Spreader, Jan 28, 2025

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

    Section 1. Purpose and Policy. On August 24, 2021, the Secretary of Defense mandated that all service members receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Secretary of Defense later rescinded the mandate on January 10, 2023. The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members. Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received. Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals is overdue.

    Sec. 2. Redress. Consistent with the policies announced in section 1 of this order, the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate, shall take all necessary action permitted by law to:

    (a) make reinstatement available to all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated;

    (b) enable those service members reinstated under this section to revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation; and

    (c) allow any service members who provide a written and sworn attestation that they voluntarily left the service or allowed their service to lapse according to appropriate procedures, rather than be vaccinated under the vaccine mandate, to return to service with no impact on their service status, rank, or pay.

    Sec. 3. Additional Agency Responsibilities. (a) Nothing in this order precludes disciplinary or administrative action for conduct that is proscribed by chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801-946a).

    (b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall report to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs on their progress in implementing this order.

    Sec. 4. Severability. If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

    Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

    (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

    (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
    January 27, 2025.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Martin

    January 28, 2025 5:33 pm

    🚨MASSIVE BREAKING:

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has REVOKED General Mark Milley’s security detail and security clearance.

    Hegseth is now planning on DEMOTING the General.

    Hegseth also ordered the removal of all Pentagon portraits of Milley.

    Total Humiliation pic.twitter.com/ZtKpzyw2n9

    — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 28, 2025

    Like

  18. Just The News: “More than four dozen former intelligence officials urged the Senate on Monday to confirm Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trump’s new director of national intelligence. Gabbard was nominated for the position by Trump in November after she joined the Republican Party. The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to hold a hearing for Gabbard later this week. 

    Former Trump White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, were among the four dozen former intelligence officials to urge the Senate to confirm Gabbard, claiming she would help undo the “gross politicization that has come to characterize intelligence bureaucracies.”

    “We, the undersigned former intelligence and national security officials, urge members of the United States Senate to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to serve as President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence,” they wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “Her service as DNI will begin undoing the gross politicization that has come to characterize intelligence bureaucracies, which has been to the great detriment of the freedom and security of the United States and its citizens.” 

    The former officials claimed Gabbard’s military background and her stint in the House of Representatives, where she served on national security panels, makes her qualified for the crucial national security position. 

    “In both these roles, she experienced first-hand how intelligence, when used as intended, provides critical support to America’s military and political leaders,” they wrote. “When intelligence was abused, Lt. Col. Gabbard spoke up and insisted on safeguards.”

    The signers also highlighted that Gabbard “stood up for truth, integrity, and following the facts,” when former senior intelligence officials “disgraced themselves” by signing the Hunter Biden laptop “Russian disinformation” letter, or appeared on partisan news programs.

    “As former collectors, analysts, consumers, and enablers of intelligence, we support Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to lead the IC,” they concluded. “She has the integrity, and moral courage, to restore objectivity and professionalism to the nation’s intelligence agencies.” 

    Gabbard’s confirmation hearing is currently set for Thursday, Jan. 30, Her nomination has raised some concerns within the Senate over her views on reining in the security state and past comments about former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. BREAKING:

      A federal district judge just temporarily blocked Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans — pausing the plan for a week and setting a hearing for further arguments on Monday morning.

      — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 28, 2025

      Liked by 1 person

  20. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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