California's flag proudly displays a bear -- yet the mighty grizzly is nearly extinct there.
With the help of local wildlife experts, Shirley Roper's students at La Costa Meadows School in Southern California prepared these brief essays and illustrations about the bears of California, USA -- including the grizzly, which may now be extinct in the state.
Black bears are a fairly small species growing to about 5 feet. Some black
bears don't look like black bears because they are brown. Baby
black bears weigh less than a pound when they are born. Black
bears can run about 30 miles per hour. They define their territories
by leaving scents and scratches on trees. The higher the scratch
marks, the bigger the bear so other bears know that territory
is really taken.
by Catherine Lambert and Carissa Spooner
© 1997 The Special Species Project ®
Photos on this page are from Key Photos CD-ROM for Windows, 201 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
