The California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus), also known as the California brown bear, California golden bear, or chaparral bear, is an extinct population of the brown bear, generally known (together with other North American brown bear populations) as the grizzly bear. "Grizzly" could have meant "grizzled" that is, with golden and grey tips of the hair or "fear-inspiring" (as a phonetic spelling of "grisly"). Nonetheless, after careful study, naturalist George Ord formally classified it in 1815 – not for its hair, but for its character – as Ursus horribilis ("terrifying bear"). Genetically, North American brown bears are closely related; in size and coloring, the California grizzly bear was much like the Kodiak bear of the southern coast of Alaska. The grizzly became a symbol of the Bear Flag Republic, a moniker that was attached to the short-lived attempt by a group of U.S. settlers to break away from Mexico in 1846. Later, this rebel flag became the basis for the state flag of California.
Taxonomy and evolution
A 1953 researcher stated, "The specific status of North American brown bears (or grizzly bears) is one of the most complex problems of mammalian taxonomy. The difficulty stems directly from the work of Merriam (1918), who concluded that there are 86 forms of grizzlies (and brown bears) in North America."
North American brown bears were taxonomically grouped as a species apart from other bear species, until DNA testing revealed that they should properly be grouped in the same species as the other brown bears. Over time, these were all synonymized into a single subspecies, Ursus arctos californicus. This fossil specimen, weighing ~455 kilograms (1,003 lb), is dated to the Greenlandian stage, over 7,500 years ago. Measurements of museum specimens, however, demonstrate that this bear was no larger than those present in the rest of North America, with average body size estimates ranging from to depending on methodology. leading to the occasional name "California golden bear". The captive individual "Monarch" had a dark brown, almost black, pelt.
Diet and behavior
The diet of the California grizzly bear was diverse, ranging from plant sources like grasses, seeds, berries, and acorns, to animal sources such as elk, deer, salmon, steelhead, and carrion. Isotopic study indicates that the majority of the diet consisted of plant matter, as with other grizzly bear populations. After the introduction of European livestock, California grizzly bears increasingly incorporated cattle into their diets. It is thought that the bears lived across almost the entirety of the state, save its most southeastern and northeastern corners. Probably the southernmost records for this subspecies are from the Sierra de Juárez, during the 18th century. The bear was most abundant in chaparral, oak woodland, and hardwood forests. Mexican settlers captured bears for bear and bull fights and they also sold their skins for 6 to 10 pesos to trading ships. Bear Trap Canyon near Bixby Creek was one of their favorite sites for trapping grizzly bears along the central California coast. These bears were even turned into furniture, such as a chair gifted to President Andrew Johnson in 1865.
Bear-baiting events flourished as popular spectacles in 19th century California. Bloody fights that pitted bears against bulls phrase origin story related to these fights stems from famous 19th-century newspaperman Horace Greeley. While visiting California, Greeley allegedly witnessed such a fight, and supposedly gave the modern stock market its "bear" and "bull" nicknames based on the fighting styles of the two animals: the bear swipes downward while the bull hooks upward. In truth, the phrase's origins predate Greeley's 1859 journey to California by at least 100 years, but the myth of the California connection persists.
thumb|right|upright|Specimen shot in 1916
The Monterey County Herald noted on July 4, 1874: