The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-10-13
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Anew Facts About the Life and Habits Of the 8
Seal Eater Of the Northern SHOWS
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The aquatic member of the bear fam
lily, the Thalassarctos maritimus Of
naturalists, is also the strongest, larg-
est and most interesting species, writes
General A. w. Greedy, Of the United
States Army. While its shutting gait
leaves its broad trails, along the north
ern continental coasts Of Asia and
America, yet this animals favorite
hunting fields are rather among the
drifting ice-f1elds or open water holes
OF the Parry, spitzberger and Franz
Josef archipelagoes, and the bordering
Islands of continental Greenland. ri
The polar bear is an animal of strik-
ing contrasts. The snowy whiteness of
Its fur Is sharply set off by the black
ness OF its snout aand claws; it's short.
rounded ears make it's long head and
neck most pronounced; its tiny tail
seems a most ludricous ending Of it's
immense launches, which are in keep
Ing only with the enormous teeth and
ponderous claws. Some Of these con-
trasts are but faint in the specimens
IN captivity, whose abnormal methods,
OF life naturally modify their character
istics. II
The most northern latitude in which.
the track of bear has been observed.
IS that noted by Lieutenant Lockwood,
OF my expedition, in eighty three de-
grees, three minutes north, near Cape
Benet; and strangely enough this ami
NAL was travelling to the northeast. i
occasionally polar bear, luxuriating
In rich hunting afforded by an e-peak,
is carried by drift far into southern lat
itudes, and thus this species sometimes
reaches the coasts of Labrador and the
southern shores of Hudson Bay or
meets it's fate in the North Atlantic as
the disintegrating foes finally dissolve.
1t was long asserted that these bears
could swim neither very far nor fast
an opinion arising, doubtless, from the
awkwardness that marks their move
ments--but it is now held that the
animal is almost amphibious. Payer
says that four men, on one occasion,
could not pull a boat fast enough to
catch either of two swimming bears.
Captain Sabine while with Parry's ex-
petition, midway in Barrow Strait, for
ty miles wide, saw a bear swimming
strongly; no ice was visible from the
ship, and the circumstances seemed to
indicate that the animal was crossing
the strait from shore to shore
No systematic effort appears to have
been made to obtain data as to the
largest animals killed by hunters but
| Sir John Ross measured sixteen bears
killed in Boothia Felix, North America,
Of which nine were males and seven
| females. The average length from snout
to end of tail was ninety-four inches
!Sfor the males and seventy eight and
seven-tenths for the females The larg-
| est bear measured one hundred and
one and half inches, and weighed ten
hundred and twenty-eight pounds, the
! animal being in poor condition.
The largest specimen of which have
personal knowledge is one killed in
! Bering Sea, whose skin is owned by
Senator, William P. Frye, of Maine. It
measures nine feet seven inches, ex-
elusive of the tail Of two inches, and
it's girth around the body just back Of
the forelegs is ten feet.
The largest specimen recorded by a
| scientific observer was one of the many
bears killed by the expedition Of Leigh
1 Smith, which was shipwrecked on the
southwest part of Franz Josef archi-
pelago, 1882. DR.. w. H. NeaIe, the
naturalist of the expedition, says that
some Of the bears were very large, that
one measured eleven feet exclusive of
the tail. There is then, no reasonable
ground to question the yeracity OF the
statement Of Cert De Veer, compan-
ion OF Barentz in his third voyage, that
i there was killed in Nova Zembla, in
! 1897, a bear which was twelve feet
long. possibly including the tail.
While the polar bear is by prefer
enRe non-vegetarian, living upon fish
am the flesh of the seal, when he can
i procure it, nevertheless he will occa-
sionally eat seaweeds, and in cases Of
necessity has been known to subsist
for some time on land vegetation. Nor
denskiold relates that Doctor Theel
shot at Port Dickson an exceedingly
fat old bear which had evidently been
living on grass for some time. The
skill and caution with which bruin
does his sea- hunting are described by
the Eskimos as follows: The bear
slips quietly into the water and sWins
he sleeWard of the seal, from whence
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