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Post by brobear on Mar 18, 2017 8:41:03 GMT -5
How strong is a grizzly? Measuring the physical strength of a wild animal is not an exact science. But, there are ways of getting a good idea of just how strong a grizzly is. First, we look at his build. He has big heavy bones. His skeleton is his framework, broad with a short back. This build provides the grizzly with greater leverage than any big cat. His skeleton is tightly wrapped with dense thick muscles. In a recent study, the mature male grizzly was found to have the densest muscles of any animal researched. A great many animal experts believe that the bear is the strongest animal of his size. I wholeheartedly agree. I will add to this that no bear is pound-for-pound as strong as a grizzly. Why? After a million years of digging into ( often ) concrete-hard ground ( often ) laced with tough roots and riddled with heavy stones, the grizzly has earned through evolutionary adaptability a huge mass of muscles upon his shoulders which not only provides exceptional digging ability but also provides him with a devastating paw-swipe. That mass of muscles reinforces his already massive upper-body strength, making the grizzly the strongest of bears.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:14:06 GMT -5
The grizzly might possibly be the only animal that stays at peak strength well past his prime. In fact, rather than lose muscle mass during his long winter sleep ( up to 6 or 7 months ), the grizzly might wake up stronger that when he started. The dominant grizzly is always an older bear most often ranging from 15 to 20 years old.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:14:34 GMT -5
The Bear Almanac by Gary Brown. STRENGTH - Bears possess enormous strength, regardless of species or size. The strength of a bear is difficult to measure, but observations alone ( bears moving rocks, carrying animal carcasses, removing large logs from the side of a cabin, and digging cavernous holes ) are indicative of incredible power. A study team at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, found that a grizzly bear could treat a 700-pound garbage dumpster like a beach ball, while it took a minimum of two persons just to tip the dumpster. The team concluded the strength of a "calm" grizzly is two-and-a-half to five times that of a human. No animal of equal size is as powerful. A bear may kill a moose, an elk, or a deer by a single blow to the neck with a powerful foreleg, then lift the carcass in its mouth and carry it for great distances. "The strength... is in keeping with his size," describes Ben East in 'Bears'. "He is very powerfully built, a heavy skeleton overlaid with thick layers of muscle as strong as rawhide rope. He can hook his long, grizzly-like front claws under a slab of rock that three grown men could not lift, and flip it over almost effortlessly... a brown bear took a thousand-pound steer a half mile up an almost vertical mountain, much of the way through alder tangles with trunks three or four inches thick." Strength and power are not only attributes of large bears but also of the young. The author observed a yearling American black bear searching for insects turn over a flat-shaped rock that was between 310 and 325 pounds "backhanded" with a single foreleg. The bear was captured the following day in a management action and was found to weigh only 120 pounds. Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos ) The brown bear is the most diverse bear in size. Its color is variable, though generally brown, and an individual's is relatively uniform. It has a dished face ( dished-in profile ); short, round ears that are small compared to the skull; and long claws on the front paws. With its strong build, great strength, thick head, and large hump over the shoulder, it is the largest omnivore. The remarkable and distinguished "hump" is actually a mass of muscle that, coupled with long claws, provides the brown bear with great digging ability. Brown bears have a hump between their shoulders that is covered with long hair and is normally a reliable means of species identification. The long hair often accentuates the hump when the hackles are raised. This distinguishing feature is a distinctive mass of muscle that provides brown bears with their exceptional digging ability and the powerful striking force of their forepaws.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:15:11 GMT -5
California Grizzly by Tracy I. Storer and Lloyd P. Tevis Jr. - 1955. Physical Features of the Grizzly General Appearance: Among carnivorous mammals, the bears as a group are characterized by their stout form and large size. The head is proportionately small and rather acutely tapered, with less length of snout and greater over-all bulk toward the base of the skull, because of the powerful jaw muscles. The eyes seem rather diminutive for the general size of the animal, and the ears are short. The neck is of moderate length but is large in diameter, because of its thick musculature. The body is heavy in build and conspicuously tapered, and the feet are large. The tail is so short as scarcely to be visible in ordinary view. Features that set the grizzly apart from other bears - except the brown bears - are the shoulder hump, the long front claws, the color of pelage, and the structure of the skull and teeth. As compared with the black bear, it has higher shoulders, a longer body, a straighter back, and lesser elevation of the haunches. Its head is narrower, and the snout and jaws are longer and less blunt. ( Mills, 1919 : 251. ) The Hump: Over the shoulders there is a characteristic hump, evident in both young and old grizzlies. The hump results from the size and placement of the muscle mass above the shoulder blades, according to Dr. Robert K. Enders, who has anatomized several Yellowstone grizzlies in recent years ( letter, Jan.11, 1953 ). There is no pad of gristle in that region as might be supposed, and the dorsal spines of the chest vertebrae are not longer, proportionately, than a black bear.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:17:19 GMT -5
by Blaire Van Valkenburgh - First posted by grraahh - shaggygod.proboards.com/SPEED AND STRENGTH The skeletons of a bear and a domestic dog illustrate the difference between plantigrade and digitigrade postures. The dog is digitigrade, standing on its toes with the soles of its feet (metapodials) off the ground. By contrast, the soles of the bear's hindfeet are flat to the ground, as in humans, giving it a plantigrade posture. If one imagines the additional energy required to walk or run with ankle weights or heavy shoes, then the drawbacks of heavy feet become clear. There are yet further benefits to runners in having long tendinous muscle attachments. Tendons are elastic and act as energy-saving springs when running. They are stretched as the limb is flexed under the weight of the animal and then rebound, propelling the body forward and upward. So, digitigrade posture, long metapodials, and compact muscles with stretchy tendons are typical of carnivores built for speed. Bears are clearly not built for speed. Although their forefeet are semi-digitigrade, their hind-feet are plantigrade. Moreover, their metapodials are short and their muscles thick throughout the length of the limb. In many ways, bears are built more like badgers than other similar-sized carnivores, such as tigers, and it shows in their speed. The top speed recorded for both black and brown bears is 50 kilometers (30 miles) per hour, whereas the range for the fully digitigrade lion and wolf is 55 to 65 kilometers (35 to 40 miles) per hour. If bears are not built for speed, then what does the combination of massive limbs, plantigrade hindfeet, cumbersome paws, and a short back provide? Strength and mobility of limb movement are the answers. The stout limbs of bears are capable of producing large forces over a much greater range of motion than those of dogs or even cats. Bears use these capabilities when digging for food or shelter, fishing for salmon, climbing to escape danger, and battling with members of their own species as well as other predators. Imagine a wolf trying to perform a bear hug or climb a tree. Dogs have forfeited these abilities in favor of speed. Cats are more like bears in their range of possible movements, but lack strength. Bears may not be able to outrun danger, but can successfully defend themselves through brute force.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:17:46 GMT -5
The Grizzly Almanac by Robert H. Busch.
Alberta bear biologist Gordon Stenhouse once watched a large grizzly running effortlessly down a steep mountain slope carrying a 300-pound sheep in its mouth. "The power of these animals is just awesome," he says ( quoted in Struzik, 1999 ).
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:18:15 GMT -5
The Grizzly Book by Jack Samson. Monarch - The Big Bear by Ernest Thompson Seton. Strong ropes, strong chains and bands of steel were at hand, with chloroform, lest he should revive too soon. Through holes in the roof with infinite toil they chained him, bound him - his paws to his neck, his neck and breast and hind legs to a bolted beam. Then raising the door, they dragged him out, not with horses - none would go near - but with a windlass to a tree; and fearing the sleep of death, they let him now revive. Chained and double chained, frenzied, foaming, and impotent, what words can tell the state of the fallen Monarch? They put him on a sled, and six horses with a long chain drew it by stages to the plain, to the railway. They fed him enough to save his life. A great steam-derrick lifted Bear and beam and chain on to a flatcar, a tarpaulin was spread above his helpless form; the engine puffed, pulled out; and the Grizzly King was gone from his ancient hills. So they brought him to the great city, the Monarch born, in chains. They put him in a cage not merely strong enough for a lion, but thrice as strong, and once a rope gave way as the huge one strained his bonds. "He is loose," went the cry, and an army of onlookers and keepers fled; only the small man with the calm eye and the big man of the hills were stanch, so the Monarch was still held. Free in the cage, he swung round, looked this way and that, then heaved his powers against the triple angling steel and wrenched the cage so not a part of it was square. In time he clearly would break out. They dragged the prisoner to another that an elephant could not break down, but it stood on the ground, and in an hour the great beast had a cavern into the earth and was sinking out of sight, till a stream of water sent after him filled the hole and forced him again to view. They moved him to a new cage made for him since he came - a hard rock floor, great bars of nearly two-inch steel that reached up nine feet and then projected in for five. The Monarch wheeled once around, then rearing, raised his ponderous bulk, wrenching those bars, unbreakable, and bent and turned them in their sockets with one heave till the five-foot spears were pointed out, and then sprang to climb. Nothing but spikes and blazing brands in a dozen ruthless hands could hold him back. The keepers watched him night and day till a stronger cage was made, impregnable with a steel above and rocks below.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:20:09 GMT -5
The grizzly Book by Jack Samson - Hunting the Grizzly by Ned W. Frost.
Incidentally, I had an interesting experience with "Old Four-Toes" myself which showed the tremendous strength of the animal. An eastern sportsman I was guiding had wounded a big bull elk and two days later when we finally found the body, the meat was spoiled so we removed only the scalp and antlers. After two or three days' time, when hunting in the same locality, we stopped to see if any animal had been working on the carcass. Much to our surprise, the carcass was gone but there were no tracks or blood signs in the tall grass of the meadow where it had lain. After considerable scouting about, I found some signs on a log several hundred yards up the hill. Beyond that point, through some timber, I found what remained of the elk, and there also I found a four-toed track. How that old grizzly had carried that full-grown elk carcass without leaving some sort of a trail in the tall grass has always remained a mystery to me.
I will give you another example of grizzly strength. My father, brother, and I cut a heavy pine log to be used as a drag for a bear-trap. It was all we could do to drag it a few yards and slip the rung of a forty-two pound, number six, bear-trap over the little end. We set the trap near a raging stream in full spring flood. The trap was sprung the first night and the drag mark of the trap and log led into the swift water, down whose flood creast were drifting uprooted trees nearly one hundred feet long in almost endless numbers. Father bade his trap and bear goodbye, for it seemed that no living animal, handicapped with such weight, could survive that torrent. A cold spell came along and the water fell several feet, so that father, by picking a place where there were several channels, could ford the stream on a large horse. The trap and long-trail were picked up on the other side almost straight across, and the bear was soon located.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:20:38 GMT -5
Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
No one doubts the grizzly's strength: old-timers, trappers, and hunters tell of grizzlies killing buffalo and dragging or carrying the huge and heavy carcass some distance over rough terrain, then burying it. Many stories have been told of the grizzly catching a buffalo or steer by the head with one paw and with the other breaking its neck. One stroke of his paw can tear the hide and ribs from a victim. However, despite his great strength, the bear has not always been victorious in these encounters. One story, for which I cannot vouch, concerns a powerful bull that was charged by a bear in a forest and, retaliating, struck his horns into his assailant, pinning him to a tree. In this situation both were later found dead, the bull from starvation, the bear from wounds. I know of a Kodiak bear and a bull moose that, joined in a standoff battle, dueled each other to death. A bull or moose cannot be easily killed unless the bear surprises the animal and strikes first. All three - moose, bull, and grizzly - have a terrible tenacity that matches their strength.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:21:14 GMT -5
The Beast That Walks Like Man by Harold McCracken. When a grizzly made a kill, of some other wild animal or domestic stock, he would generally drag it to some secluded spot to enjoy the feast. Large bears have been known to transport a full-grown elk or even a hefty steer a mile or more over rough and difficult country. Their strength is amazing. They did not make such a kill everyday. Sometimes it was infrequent. On such happy occasions, however, he ate very heartily; and, not being able to consume it all at one sitting, Old Ephraim gave serious attention to preserving and protecting what was left for future meals. After satisfying his immediate appetite he would cover up the cache with leaves or even parts of dead trees, sometimes digging out a shallow hole in the ground beforehand. Then he would wander away, to return for the next meal, or he might lie down near enough to protect it from trespassers.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:22:58 GMT -5
wildfact.com/forum/attachment.php?aid=292 Conclusion: Bears are noted to be extremely strong by both literature and first-hand accounts, and this approach is also true for very young bears. The ratio of the vertical pulling weight to the young bear's weight approximated at 4.624x, and the ratio of the horizontal pulling weight to the young bear's weight approximated at 20.550x, slightly more than 20 times his own body weight. Powerlifters and other humans, who lift according to their body's maximum loads, will usually vertically-pull 2.5 to 3.5 times their body weight. The power of the young bear in this experiment was astonishing, and this finding could provide more light into the muscle function of not only brown bears, but all bear species in general.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:23:41 GMT -5
Fortress of the Grizzlies by Dan Wakeman and Wendy Shymanski:
When you are traveling in bear country, whether the residents are grizzly or black, it is extremely important that you understand bear behavior. Even the smallest bears are extremely strong, and if a careless approach spooks an animal, it can injure or kill you. Learn as much as possible about bears before you venture out.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:24:14 GMT -5
Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.
I edged over the rise and froze: a huge dark grizzly shook the remains of a buffalo carcass in the air, much as a dog might play with a stick. From a hundred feet away I watched, motionless in the fading light.
The bear slammed the carcass to the ground and circled, stamping his forepaws on the bones and hide. I waited until his back was turned, then retreated a hundred yards and climbed a steep timbered hillside. I could see the flash of his claws as he turned over the dead buffalo. These were much longer than a black bear's, maybe four inches long. The grizzly looked almost black in the dim light. His shoulders, nearly as high as mine, were separated by a mound of muscle, which rippled as the bear pawed and slid the heavy carcass along the ground. His head was massive, scooped out below the eyes, and he must have weighed well over six hundred pounds.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:24:50 GMT -5
The Grizzly by Enos A. Mills.
He has extraordinary strength. I have known him to drag the carcass of a cow or a steer of twice his own weight. In several instances this was dragged up the mountain-side over fallen logs, yet it was apparently moved without extraordinary effort.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:25:22 GMT -5
A Historic Grizzly by Bob Nolin... The power of a grizzly is second to none. To illustrate this, a man, whom I know, was mauled by a grizzly after lifting the gate of a culvert trap as he released the bear. In seconds the bear was out, pulled the trap off the flatbed and caused Louis, who was positioned on top, to slide down the top length of the trap onto the bear! The power, strength and speed to do all this in the short time it took Louis to hustle from the front to the back of the culvert trap is amazing! This occurrence greatly impressed two outdoor writers who were witnessing the release. One said afterwards that he had heard of the great bear's power and strength and its amazing feats, but he could not digest it all. After this episode he said there is no comparison between a black bear and a grizzly, since he was only familiar with black bears. Now he is a believer in Ursus arctos horribilis' power and strength.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:26:48 GMT -5
A Historic Grizzly... A friend of mine was a guide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. While packing with horses along a trail that paralleled a clff, one of the pack horses slipped and catapulted several hundred feet to the bottom. Doug climbed down to claim all the gear, and decided that the dead horse would serve as bait for a grizzly. Knowing there were grizzlies in the area, he waited high above the horse through the night with the necessary equipment and gear in anticipation of an opportunity at daylight. As the sun lifted in the eastern sky, Doug carefully studied the landscape below, only to discover the horse was missing! He was totally bewildered as to what happened to the horse! Doug climbed down the cliff and found that the horse was dragged a couple hundred yards to the Middle Fork of the Flathead River by a grizzly! Doug waded the river and continued following the drag marks, which led to a huge bear cache! After carefully surveying the sight he decided against any more grizzly hunting. The one thing that stood out in his mind was the awesome strength of an animal that was able to drag a mountain horse that distance!
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:27:35 GMT -5
A Historic Grizzly... My father-in-law and brother were on a fishing trip to the peninsula of Alaska. One night a grizzly took their fifty-five gallon drum that was sealed with garbage and bent it like a pop can! Immense strength is almost an understatement. They decided that moving on might be their best proposition.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:28:15 GMT -5
A Historic Grizzly... Years ago I witnessed a line of men trying to turn a grizzly over on a mat, much like two wrestlers. If they were able to do so, then they would be awarded a monetary prize. The grizzly with the command by the trainer stood on all fours. The person would put his one hand on the bear's front upper leg ( arm ) and his other over the bear's back. Weight was no factor since this bear was hardly any bigger than these two hundred and fifty pound people. On a command from the trainer the scuffle started, and in a matter of seconds the bear was on top of each of the contestants. One guy apparently irritated the bear because the bear flew up and around in one motion and had the guy pinned! It was a blessing the bear was declawed and wore a face muzzle, or this guy would have been in big trouble. I could hardly believe the quickness of that bear! In Monterrey, Mexico a California grizzly killed an African lion so quickly that the large crowd watching did not know how it was done! During that same time frame a grizzly killed a bull in a ring in similar fashion.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:28:42 GMT -5
The Grizzly Book by Jack Samson - The Trouble with Grizzlies by Thomas Hardin. With the hide off, the carcass of a grizzly looked like the naked body of a grotesque and tremendously powerful man. The great ropes of muscle show where the bears get their strength. They can crush the head of a moose or a buffalo with one blow, literally powder the backbone of the largest steer. I once saw a rather small female grizzly uproot the stump of a dead timberline tree with one smooth, effortless pull. apparently she did it as easily as a tractor would have done. Grizzlies have been known to carry away the entire carcass of a bull elk that would weigh from 700 to 800 pounds, and to drag that of a bull moose for a mile - and a big bull will weigh 1,200 or 1,300. When a grizzly puts his mind to it, he can break open the door of a trapper's cabin as if he were an animated battering ram. For his size, he is one of the most powerful beasts that walks the earth.
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Post by brobear on Mar 19, 2017 8:30:08 GMT -5
California Grizzly by Tracy I. Storer and Lloyd P. Tevis, Jr.
The bodily framework of the grizzly is substantial, to support the weight of the animal; yet the bear has a greater degree of flexibility in its movements than is possible in many other sturdily built mammals. This freedom of motion is a correlated function of the bones, ligaments, and muscles. The skeleton of a bear - grizzly or other kind - is much like that of related carnivores, but there are many small differences.
A noticeable massiveness is evident in all the bones. The neck vertebrae are large but are capable of much rotation movement, the spinous processes along the back on the dorsal vertebrae are heavy, and the shoulder blade is ample. The limbs are of nearly equal length. Both fore and hind feet are fully plantigrade: the entire surface of each foot comes in contact with the ground as the bear walks. The bones used in lifting or extending the feet ( the pisiform on the fore foot, the calcaneum on the hind ) are larger than in some other carnivores. All bones of the legs, both front and rear, are separate. In the front leg, the radius and ulna are of nearly equal size for easy and powerful rotation of that member; and in the hind leg, the fibula, which is involved in twisting movements, is free and larger in relation to the tibia than in mammals unable to make such movements. These skeletal features, together with the muscles attached to them, give the bears dexterity in using their limbs - more or less in the manner of human beings ( fig. 11 ).
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