Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2013 12:15:46 GMT
Despite biologists who scoff at such a notion, there is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that a subspecies of grizzly once inhabited the remote forests of northern Quebec and eastern Labrador.
In 1550, French cartographer Pierre Desceliers drew the Desceliers Map, which shows three bears along the coast of Labrador. One is white and is obviously a polar bear, but the other two are brown. Both are the same size as the polar bear. According to the experts, only black bears and polar bears inhabit the region.
In the late 1700s, Captain George Cartwright,ador, wrote of a be one of the first English settlers in Labrador, wrote of a bear species in the area that was quite different from the polar and black bears, describing it as "a kind of bear very ferocious, having a white ring around its neck." Young grizzlies often have such a marking.
Modern natives of the area tell of the Great Bear of the Montagnais, a large, brown, and dangerous bear that used to live as far south as the Mealy Mountains of southern Labrador.
By the 19th century, the Hudson Bay Company had trading posts along the coast of Labrador and northern Quebec. One of its traders, John Maclean, worked for the Bay for six years at Fort Chimo on the southern shore of Ungava Bay. In his district report for 1837 to 1838, he lists three types of bear skins: black, Arctic ( polar ), and "grissle." And this description was from a trader who had spent four years in British Columbia and knew well what a "grissle" bear's hide looked like. He noted in a book about his years at Ungava Bay that "when we consider the great extent of country that intervenes between Ungava and the far west, it seems inexplicable that the grisly bear should be found in so insulated a situation... the fact of their being there, however, does not admit of a doubt, for I have traded and sent to England several of their skins."
But is it really so unusual to expect a grizzly 500 miles ( 758 km ) east of its regular range? In the far north, grizzlies have been found 300 miles ( 455 km ) north of where biologists say they should be, and there is really no reason that grizzlies could not have spread from Southampton Island - their known easternmost limit - east to the coast of northern Quebec at one time.
And the trading records are hard to dispute. For example, Hudson Bay records for 1839 at Fort Chimo record that 1 black bear skin and 4 "grey bears" skins were traded. The Hudson Bay Company was the acknowledged expert in furtrading in Canada, so it is unlikely that one of its traders would be confused when it came to bear skins.
Captain William Kennedy, who worked in the Ungava District in the 1860s, stated that a variety of grizzly skins were traded at the Fort Chimo, Fort Nascapie, and George River posts.
In addition to the Hudson Bay posts, there were a string of Moravian missions along the Labrador coast. Their records show that the Moravians had regularly traded skins of "grey" or "grizzly" bears for many decades, buying the last one in 1914. Indeed, by the late 1800s it appeared that the Ungava brown bear was becoming rare.
Ethnologist L.M.Turner stayed at Fort Chimo from 1882 to 1884 and stated that "the brown or barren-ground bear appears to be restricted to a narrow area and is not plentiful."
A.P.Lowe, a geologist who visited Labrador between 1892 and 1895, reported that "specimens of the barren-ground bear are obtained only at infrequent intervals... skins are brought at intervals to Fort Chimo where the Indians have afavorable chance to kill ( one of these bears ). On other occasions they leave it alone, having a great respect for, and fear, of its ferocity and size."
Around 1900, an independent trader named Martin Hunter, who owned a trading post on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, brought some large brown bear skins that came from southern Labrador. He reported that they were of "immense size... One skin I got measured seven feet ( 2 m ) broad by nine feet ( 3 m ) long."
In the Winter of 1905, American traveler Dillon Wallace spent some time at Fort Chimo and reported that "a very large and ferocious brown bear... inhabits the barrens to the eastward of George River." He stated that traders told him "the hair was very long, li ght brown in color, silver tipped and of a very different species from the polar or black bear."
The Ungava brown bear, whatever species or subspecies it was, appears to have died out by the early 1900s. Intriguing evidence of its former existence came to light in 1975, however, when Harvard anthropologist Steven Cox unearthed the skull of a young female bear while excavating a late 18th-century Inuit midden at Okak Bay on the Labrador coast. The skull was identified as that of a grizzly.
In 1550, French cartographer Pierre Desceliers drew the Desceliers Map, which shows three bears along the coast of Labrador. One is white and is obviously a polar bear, but the other two are brown. Both are the same size as the polar bear. According to the experts, only black bears and polar bears inhabit the region.
In the late 1700s, Captain George Cartwright,ador, wrote of a be one of the first English settlers in Labrador, wrote of a bear species in the area that was quite different from the polar and black bears, describing it as "a kind of bear very ferocious, having a white ring around its neck." Young grizzlies often have such a marking.
Modern natives of the area tell of the Great Bear of the Montagnais, a large, brown, and dangerous bear that used to live as far south as the Mealy Mountains of southern Labrador.
By the 19th century, the Hudson Bay Company had trading posts along the coast of Labrador and northern Quebec. One of its traders, John Maclean, worked for the Bay for six years at Fort Chimo on the southern shore of Ungava Bay. In his district report for 1837 to 1838, he lists three types of bear skins: black, Arctic ( polar ), and "grissle." And this description was from a trader who had spent four years in British Columbia and knew well what a "grissle" bear's hide looked like. He noted in a book about his years at Ungava Bay that "when we consider the great extent of country that intervenes between Ungava and the far west, it seems inexplicable that the grisly bear should be found in so insulated a situation... the fact of their being there, however, does not admit of a doubt, for I have traded and sent to England several of their skins."
But is it really so unusual to expect a grizzly 500 miles ( 758 km ) east of its regular range? In the far north, grizzlies have been found 300 miles ( 455 km ) north of where biologists say they should be, and there is really no reason that grizzlies could not have spread from Southampton Island - their known easternmost limit - east to the coast of northern Quebec at one time.
And the trading records are hard to dispute. For example, Hudson Bay records for 1839 at Fort Chimo record that 1 black bear skin and 4 "grey bears" skins were traded. The Hudson Bay Company was the acknowledged expert in furtrading in Canada, so it is unlikely that one of its traders would be confused when it came to bear skins.
Captain William Kennedy, who worked in the Ungava District in the 1860s, stated that a variety of grizzly skins were traded at the Fort Chimo, Fort Nascapie, and George River posts.
In addition to the Hudson Bay posts, there were a string of Moravian missions along the Labrador coast. Their records show that the Moravians had regularly traded skins of "grey" or "grizzly" bears for many decades, buying the last one in 1914. Indeed, by the late 1800s it appeared that the Ungava brown bear was becoming rare.
Ethnologist L.M.Turner stayed at Fort Chimo from 1882 to 1884 and stated that "the brown or barren-ground bear appears to be restricted to a narrow area and is not plentiful."
A.P.Lowe, a geologist who visited Labrador between 1892 and 1895, reported that "specimens of the barren-ground bear are obtained only at infrequent intervals... skins are brought at intervals to Fort Chimo where the Indians have afavorable chance to kill ( one of these bears ). On other occasions they leave it alone, having a great respect for, and fear, of its ferocity and size."
Around 1900, an independent trader named Martin Hunter, who owned a trading post on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, brought some large brown bear skins that came from southern Labrador. He reported that they were of "immense size... One skin I got measured seven feet ( 2 m ) broad by nine feet ( 3 m ) long."
In the Winter of 1905, American traveler Dillon Wallace spent some time at Fort Chimo and reported that "a very large and ferocious brown bear... inhabits the barrens to the eastward of George River." He stated that traders told him "the hair was very long, li ght brown in color, silver tipped and of a very different species from the polar or black bear."
The Ungava brown bear, whatever species or subspecies it was, appears to have died out by the early 1900s. Intriguing evidence of its former existence came to light in 1975, however, when Harvard anthropologist Steven Cox unearthed the skull of a young female bear while excavating a late 18th-century Inuit midden at Okak Bay on the Labrador coast. The skull was identified as that of a grizzly.
