Recommended Books about Bears
intense and colorful personalities grizzlies can have. Inexpensive and another personal favorite. Little Stoney is well-known to many Alaskans, and you find his photographs or those of his mother and sisters in many other bear books.)
River of Bears
Tom Walker
(This gorgeously photographed book is one of the most profound studies of the grizzly life-cycle available. It concerns the grizzly bears at the McNial River Sanctuary in Alaska. There, the bears have become gradually accustomed to humans until they are now uniquely tolerant of human presence. One female, White, freely nurses her cubs within ten feet of the tourists. Others, such as the aging male Rusty, will sleep equally close. Only very limited numbers of tourists are allowed into the sanctuary and they have to follow very strict rules when near
the bears. To go there, you have to enter a drawing for a number of 4-day viewing slots. I think the odds are less than 1 in 10 currently of making it in any given year, so the lucky few are much envied. The rest of us can read this beautiful and insightful book in compensation.)
Track of the Grizzly
Frank Craighead
(This is a popular account of the definitive study of the Yellowstone grizzlies by one of the foremost wildlife authorities on the great bear. His descriptions of the colorful personalities of the different bears makes for engaging reading. My favorites were the mighty Inge, only bear to win alpha male status at two different times and Marion, their first tagged and radio-collared bear. She set her eye on the mighty Inge even when she was a shy youngster and would have no lesser grizzly impregnate her. A classic work.)
True Bear Tales: True Stories from Michigan's Upper Peninsula
David E. Young
(This is about black bears. Specifically, it is about the rambunctious, mischievious and thievish black bears of Porcupine Mountains National Park. It is a collection of short anecdotes by one of the rangers there. These Porcupine bears are some of the toughest and most ingenious rascals of any wilderness area in the U.S. Some of these bears were expert muggers. They could separate a whole group of hikers from their goodies. The bear would guard all the packs and any hiker who tried to approach would find a very fierce looking and determined growling bear blocking the way.)
A Shadow in the Forest: Idaho's Black Bears
John Beecham
(This book contains the results of a long
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