杏吧原创

The Grizzly Almanac by Robert Busch, The Lyons Press, $29.95, ISBN
1585741434

IF you鈥檙e off to Canada, remember this: it鈥檚 usually best to lie face down
when you meet a grizzly. The king, in other words, demands obeisance. Beyond
that, as Robert Busch assures us in The Grizzly Almanac, the big guys
have little interest in attacking or indeed in snacking on you.

This respectful and inspiring portrait of Ursus arctos horribilis
covers it all, from anatomy, taxonomy and conservation to the beast鈥檚 uneasy
place in human history. You鈥檒l see why the Menominee people called it Elder
Brother鈥攁nd America鈥檚 explorers Lewis and Clark only saw a 鈥渧erry large
and a turrible looking animal鈥�, setting the tone for the trigger-happy white
settlers who followed their trail.

It鈥檚 a familiar tale. Grizzlies once thronged North America, so numerous in
some regions they roamed in herds like bison. Now, aside from a few pawholds in
the US, the bear鈥檚 range is limited to Canada鈥檚 west and north-west and Alaska.
And it鈥檚 not being left in peace there either. Overhunting and poaching, as well
as clear-cutting and other habitat loss, are eating into populations and
speeding their decline.

There are flickers of hope, such as an ambitious proposal to link
conservation areas in a corridor stretching from Yellowstone to the Yukon. And
this book, which so admirably balances knowledge with concern, is another.