We saw a few more during our trip including a most adorable calf and a yearling bull with velvet-covered nubs. The antlers begin their growth around March and are complete by August. Between December and February the antlers are broken off or fall off. The grizzly was the only bear we were fortunate enough to see, and the four that I counted were all inside Denali National Park, which has a population of about 350 grizzly bears. Polar bears are exclusive to the Arctic regio, which we did not visit, but both brown and black bears are abundant.
Many scientists consider two subspecies of brown bear.
This author, however, feels the distinction is merely due to geography and diet. Weighing only one pound at birth, these animals reach weights of up to 1700 lbs., making them the largest terrestrial carnivores of all. There are also many mammals we did not have the privilege to encounter, such as the lynx, gray wolf, brown lemming, collared pika, wolverine, and many more. Although we did not see these mammals firsthand, we still learned interesting facts about them. The gray wolf helps to maintain animal populations by preying on the weakest of the group and males can weigh between 85 and 115 lbs.