Snow Bear

A male grizzly bear struts through the high country in search of a mate during a spring snowstorm in the mountains of Wyoming.  A large male grizzly in this region may weigh up to 700 pound or more and can be identified by the large muscle mass or hump above its shoulders and 4-inch claws.  These claws are well adapted for digging up plants, rodents and rodent caches as part of the bears seasonally varied diet.  Grizzlies are omnivores and have been known to eat at least 266 different species of plants, invertebrates, fish, fungi and mammals.  An adult male grizzly may cover a home range o 800 to 2000  square miles during its' lifetime in search of food or a mate.  Grizzly bears once roamed most of the American  west, including the Rocky Mountains, Northern Mexico, Western Canada, Alaska and much of the Great Plains.  Today their range in the lower forty-eight states is limited to small parts of the mountain west.  In 1975, when grizzlies were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, there were approximately 136 individuals living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  Under that protection it is now estimated there are between 700 an 750 grizzlies living in and around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.