TY - JOUR
AU - Eadie, W., Robert
AB - This book is a fitting memorial to the vanished glory of California's most magnificent mammal. The last grizzly bear is thought to have been killed in California in 1922. There is a record of one having been seen in 1924, but since then no more valid records have appeared. The complete extirpation of a mammal once so abundant in as large a state as California is a modern tragedy. This book traces the history of the bear from the coming of the white man to the last lonely canine tooth that was delivered to a museum for identification. The complex taxonomic history of our native bears is traced in an introductory chapter. This is followed by chapters on records of grizzlies in California, physical characteristics, and habits. The relations between the bears and Indians and the Spaniards are traced from the historical records, with numerous quotations from vivid first-hand accounts of encounters between the Spaniards and the bears. The history of the so-called sport of bear-and-bull fights is recounted from their inception by the Spanish to their adoption and final termination at the hands of American settlers. Local ordinances and scarcity of bears ended the carnage about 1850. The conflicts between grizzlies and American settlers are recounted in a separate chapter, followed by a fascinating review of methods of hunting, with many tales of first-hand encounters. While these spotlighted events make thrilling reading, it is obvious that the grizzly never had a chance against the arrayed forces of traps, poisons and guns. There is a chapter on the famous Grizzly Adams, a forty-niner from New England who made a profession of hunting, trapping, taming, and exhibiting the bears. Closing chapters discuss famous captive grizzlies, grizzly lore, and the California grizzly as an emblem of the state. The reaction of this reader to this last was, that rather than seeking borrowed glory from the vanished grizzly, the state should hang its official head with shame. Surely a state with as much wild mountainous area as California could have established a token refuge for the remnants of this once large population of bears. The book closes with appendices: known museum specimens, last records, Indian names, and sources. An extensive bibliography and an index are provided. Illustrations are an important feature of the book from the colored frontispiece reproduction of a painting, Return from a Bear Hunt, to the reproductions of contemporary drawings, and the photographs of bears, habitats, and skeletal anatomy. The authors have been thorough and the book makes fascinating reading. 1956 American Society of Mammalogists
TI - Storer, Tracy I. and Lloyd P. Tevis, Jr. California Grizzly. Univ. California Press, Berkeley. 335 p., 36 fig. (halftones), 2 color pl., maps. 1955. Price, $7.50
JO - Journal of Mammalogy
DO - 10.2307/1376724
DA - 1956-05-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/storer-tracy-i-and-lloyd-p-tevis-jr-california-grizzly-univ-california-muagAThoxf
SP - 301
EP - 301
VL - 37
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -