Hello feminists,

This weekend I went over some sketches I made at our local zoo before the grizzly bears went into hibernation. In August, my bestie and I will be sharing Glacier National Park with over 300 grizzly bears and 600 black bears. Probably wise to do some research before going. Today I confirmed that one of the safest ways to interact with bears is don't; leave them their personal space. Typical practices when staying safe around bears include:

make noise while hiking (never surprise a bear)
hike in groups
secure food, garbage, and other scented items such as toiletries
- i.e. hang bear bags 100-300' away from campsite
keep a clean campsite
carry bear spray
stay at least 100 yards away from bears
read more at Glacier National Park's site on Bear Safety

Black bears (Ursus americanus) are small and common as far as bears go in North America. They are omnivores, and hibernate in winter. They have no shoulder hump, a flat dog-like muzzle, larger pointy ears, and dark claws around 1.5" long. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are also omnivorous and hibernate. However, they tote a shoulder hump, a scooped profile, smaller rounded ears, and light-colored claws around 2-4" long. Read more at Glacier National Park's site on Bears.

That's all on bears for now, but I will definitely be making more panels on Glacier's resident fauna.

ER

Drawn after referencing Glacier National Park's website, lots of good bear facts there. Both grizzlies and black bears are omnivorous, and hibernate in the winter months.

Long line of doodles from a trip to our local zoo. Pro tip, draw large when using rastor-based drawing programs. Otherwise you might risk fuzzy grizzlies and polar bears after resizing the original sketch.