Track of the Grizzly

This book tells the personal side of a major study of grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park in 1959-1968. It doesn't tell you much about the scientific motivation for the study or for the team's activities. Based on the stories, the plan seemed to be, "Let's put radio collars on grizzly bears and see how much stuff we can learn." They were particularly interested in finding winter dens and trying to monitor temperature of the den and the vitals of the bears. But the Craighead brothers don't seem to be very self-conscious about what they're doing, and why. Their scientific ethics and social attitudes are also very much grounded in the 1950s, for whatever that's worth. There's a lot of information about Yellowstone grizzlies in here, though of course a lot of later scientific progress has been made. Some of the other reviewers mention how valuable this information can be if you're traveling in grizzly country. I'd recommend against reading the book that way. The science is old, and grizzly behavior varies by location. Barren ground grizzlies in the Arctic, salmon-based bears on Kodiak Island, berry- and moth-eating bears in Glacier NP, and pine nut-dependent bears in Yellowstone are bears of a different color (sometimes literally). Read this book as a bit of the history of science. The final chapter and the epilogue cover the controversy with the Park Service over grizzly bear management. This ultimately led to the Park refusing to allow the Craigheads to continue their research. Craighead is understandably bitter and defensive, but also mostly in the right. Because the Park Service refused to listen to the Craigheads, human-bear conflicts were unnecessarily high for a decade, and we lost more than one-third of the grizzly population. We also had at least two human fatalities that took exactly the form that the Craigheads predicted. These accounts of the conflicts with the park service are the most interesting part, and most lastingly relevant, of the book.

Are you thinking about backpacking in grizzly country? Well, then you need to learn a bit about the biology and behavior of the bear. While on a trip to Alaska this year, I did some reading and learned that grizzlies are largely nocturnal, feeding mostly at night and denning up during the day. Craighead's book confirms this, and provides a lot of other useful information. He and his brother did research on the Yellowstone grizzly population for around a decade, but park management rejected their expert advice when grizzly management became a hot political issue after two tourists were killed by bears in 1967. This aspect of the book is of course dated, and there is no update on the current state of the Yellowstone grizzlies, but nevertheless this is an excellent book for anyone planning a wilderness trip. "Learning to Talk Bear" by Roland Cheek is a good companion book to this one.

A very readable, enjoyable book. It was published in 1979 so I'm sure there's more and newer information on the bears, but this is a great starting place. It's author (and his brother) are famous for their early grizzly studies.

A shortened and less scientific version of the Craighead's classic study of the Yellowstone grizzlies. For any one who wants to know more about grizzlies, this book is a must!!!!

A very well written and entertaining book about the Criaghead's multi year study of the Grizzly Bears of the Yellowstone Eco system. The book while written by a Biologist, is very entertaining and an easy (light) read....not a scientific paper.If you want to understand what Grizzly Bears are REALLY like,and want to understand this interesting animal- this is your book. It's a great book to read if you visit the Yellowstone area and are somewhat "Bear-a-phobic" as a result of the sensational bear attack books. I was reading this book in Yellowstone this summer when I had my 1st bear incident in the 15 years I have been coming to the park. Armed with good information the "incident" became an interesting encounter with another one of YNP's great animals. This is a book worth buying and keeping in your library.