Track of the Grizzly

About this book

Track of the Grizzly is the culmination of one of the most ambitious wildlife studies ever undertaken the Craighead field study of the grizzly bears of the Rocky Mountains carried out in Yellowstone National Park and the huge surrounding ecosystem spanning three states. The grizzly once roamed North America as a coequal with early humans its range stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific and from Mexico to the Arctic. Today only remnant populations live in the contiguous United States; the Yellowstone grizzly community is the largest but is ever threatened by proximity to people: their towns camps and garbage dumps. Over a period of thirteen years beginning in 1959 Frank Craighead his brother John and their colleagues lived in the backcountry close to their subjects. Combining firsthand knowledge of the bears and their habitat with radio-tracking and other scientific techniques they tracked hundreds of grizzlies to discover their social organization and seasonal movements their breeding and feeding habits and their life spans. This fascinating seminal book provides an intimate and detailed portrait of the greatest carnivore in our hemisphere a lesson in wildlife mismanagement and a close-up look at the life and work of wildlife biologists in the field.