"Don't black bears sleep through the winter?" questioned the writer of
an attendant who was dealing out mid-day rations of bread and milk at
the park.
"That's the general impression," was the rejoinder, "but we have never
noticed any attempts at hibernation here. Bears are unusually lively
during the cold months, and demand their food as regularly as do the
lions and other feline animals. I don't know that any observations of
value on this question have ever been made on animals in confinement.
I have had some experience with outside animals, and a great many go
through what is called a winter's sleep; and in warm countries there is
what might be called a summer sleep. Bears begin in the fall to look out
for a soft nest; and if it's possible for them to eat more at one time
than another they do it then, and when the cold weather sets in they
are fat and in prime condition. According to some authorities, the fat
produces the carbon that in some way tends to induce somnolency. The
stomach of a bear at this time becomes empty, and naturally shrivels
or draws into a very small space, and is rendered totally useless by
a substance called 'tappen' that clogs it and the intestines; this is
formed of pine leaves and other material that the animal takes from
ants' nest and the trunks of trees in its search after honey.
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