Grizzly Bears are indeed terrifying

Context: [https://lewis-clark.org/sciences/mammals/bears/grizzly-bear-encounters/](https://lewis-clark.org/sciences/mammals/bears/grizzly-bear-encounters/)

Of all the animals the men of the Corps of Discovery encountered on their expedition, the most formidable of all was the *Ursus horribilus*, better known as the grizzly bear. Lewis and Clark were no stranger to bears, having grown up hunting the grizzly’s smaller cousin, the black bear, which was then commonly found across along the east coast. Intrigued by the Mandan Indians’ formidable description of the animal they called the “white bear,” they were eager to try their hand at hunting this fabled beast.

Lewis and Clark began to see signs of the grizzly shortly after they left Fort Mandan in April 1805. Lewis reported seeing “tracks of the white bear of enormous size” along the Missouri, along with mangled buffalo carcasses on which the bear were feeding. The first grizzlies they spotted ran away, giving the Corps a false sense of security. They killed their first grizzly on April 29, 1805, an immature male of about 300 pounds. Lewis bragged in his journal, “the Indians may well fear this anamal equiped as they generally are with their bows and arrows or indifferent fuzees, but in the hands of skillfull riflemen they are by no means as formidable or dangerous as they have been represented.”

Subsequent encounters would prove otherwise. On May 5, William Clark and George Droulliard killed an enormous grizzly bear, with some effort. Clark described it as a “verry large and a turrible looking animal, which we found verry hard to kill    we Shot ten Balls into him before we killed him, & 5 of those Balls through his lights.” Lewis estimated the weight of the bear at 500-600 pounds, about twice the size of the average black bear.  He noted that after the bear was shot, “he swam more than half the distance across the river to a sandbar & it was at least twenty minutes before he died; he did not attempt to attack, but fled and made the most tremendous roaring from the moment he was shot.” Once the bear finally died, they butchered it for meat, bear oil, and its thick furry skin. Sobered by the size and ferocity of the bear, Lewis wrote, “I find that the curiossity of our party is pretty well satisfyed with rispect to this anamal.”

[https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/with-a-bear-behind-lewis-clark-meet-the-grizzly-bear/](https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/with-a-bear-behind-lewis-clark-meet-the-grizzly-bear/)

Fact is though that Ursus Arctos horribilis (North American brown) bear is a subspecies of Ursus arctos (the brown bear) The closely related european variant is Ursus arctos arctos (Eurasian brown bear).

[Unrelated but one of the largest grizzly bear ever hunted was brought down by a single .22lr shot.](https://bear-hunting.com/2022/7/grizzly-with-a-22-c)