The Last Grizzly And Other Southwestern Bear Stories

This collection of true stories about grizzly and black bears in the greater southwest from the 1820s to present day demonstrates changing attitudes toward bears and the preservation of the animals and their habitats

In this lively, historically accurate account, David E. Brown chronicles the demise of the grizzly bear in the Southwest. He presents the personal narratives of those who knew grizzlies, accounts of hunters and administrators in wildlife management agencies, and the popular legends and lore of the grizzly that one would hear around the campfire. Scientists, Southwest historians, and those interested in America’s wildlife will appreciate this readable study of the bear’s life history and of the unique spirit of adventure associated with the grizzly bear-a spirit that passed from southwest game ranges with the expirpation of the species in the first half of this century. This edition includes a new foreword by Charles Jonkel and a new preface, in which the author discusses the latest developments in the debate over the grizzly’s place in the Southwest.

The years from 1820 to 1920 saw the sport of bear hunting at its greatest flowering. Much of the country was still wild enough to support large numbers of both black and grizzly bears, who in turn supported a remarkable assortment of bear hunters. Some, like David Crockett and Theodore Roosevelt, became internationally famous. Others, like Wilburn Waters and Holt Collier, are almost completely forgotten, though their exploits were just as extraordinary. "The Bear Hunter's Century "brings to life the hard, thrilling lives, of these men. Not just a book of adventures, this a fascinating social history told with wit and style, a penetrating examination of the often inaccurate lore of bear hunting, and a celebration of the amazing skills developed by the best bear hunters.

Gathers the pre-Sand Country Almanac writings of Aldo Leopold, showing that he was not born an ecologist, but evolved over time through experimentation and thought.

First published more than a century ago, The Biography of a Grizzly recounts the life of a fictitious bear named Wahb who lived and died in the Greater Yellowstone region. This new edition combines Ernest Thompson Seton’s classic tale and original illustrations with historical and scientific context for Wahb’s story, providing a thorough understanding of the setting, cultural connections, biology, and ecology of Seton’s best-known book. By the time The Biography of a Grizzly was published in 1900, grizzly bears had been hunted out of much of their historical range in North America. The characterization of Wahb, along with Seton’s other anthropomorphic tales of American wildlife, helped to change public perceptions and promote conservation. As editors Jeremy M. Johnston and Charles R. Preston remind us, however, Seton’s approach to writing about animals put him at the center of the “Nature-Faker” controversy of the early twentieth century, when John Burroughs and Theodore Roosevelt, among others, denounced sentimental representations of wildlife. The editors address conservation scientists’ continuing concerns about inaccurate depictions of nature in popular culture. Despite its anthropomorphism, Seton’s paradoxical book imparts a good deal of insightful and accurate natural history, even as its exaggerations shaped early-twentieth-century public opinion on conservation in often counterproductive ways. By complicating Seton’s enthralling tale with scientific observations of grizzly behavior in the wild, Johnston and Preston evaluate the story’s accuracy and bring the story of Yellowstone grizzlies into the present day. Preserving the 1900 edition’s original design and illustrations, Wahb brings new understanding to an American classic, updating the book for current and future generations.

A search for proof that grizzly bears still live in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.

Knowledge held about animals by Pima-speaking Native Americans of Arizona and northwest Mexico is intimately entwined with their way of lifeÑa way that is fading from memory as beavers and wolves vanish also from the Southwest. Ethnobiologist Amadeo Rea has conducted extensive fieldwork among the Northern Pimans and here shares what these people know about mammals and how mammals affect their lives. Rea describes the relationship of the River Pima, Tohono O'odham (Papago), Pima Bajo, and Mountain Pima to the furred creatures of their environment: how they are named and classified, hunted, prepared for consumption, and incorporated into myth. He also identifies associations between mammals and Piman notions of illness by establishing correlations between the geographical distribution of mammals and ideas regarding which animals do or do not cause staying sickness. This information reveals how historical and ecological factors can directly influence the belief systems of a people. At the heart of the book are detailed species accounts that relate Piman knowledge of the bats, rabbits, rodents, carnivores, and hoofed mammals in their world, encompassing creatures ranging from deer mouse to mule deer, cottontail to cougar. Rea has been careful to emphasize folk knowledge in these accounts by letting the Pimans tell their own stories about mammals, as related in transcribed conversations. This wide-reaching study encompasses an area from the Rio Yaqui to the Gila River and the Gulf of California to the Sierra Madre Occidental and incorporates knowledge that goes back three centuries. Folk Mammalogy of the Northern Pimans preserves that knowledge for scholars and Pimans alike and invites all interested readers to see natural history through another people's eyes.