https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California
The Bear Flag is the official flag of the U.S. state of California.[2] The precursor of the flag was first flown during the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt and was also known as the Bear Flag.
The 1911 statute stated:
The bear flag is hereby selected and adopted as the state flag of California. … The said bear flag shall consist of a flag of a length equal to one and one-half the width thereof; the upper five-sixths of the width thereof to be a white field, and the lower sixth of the width thereof to be a red stripe; there shall appear in the white field in the upper left-hand corner a single red star, and at the bottom of the white field the words ‘California Republic,’ and in the center of the white field a California grizzly bear upon a grass plat, in the position of walking toward the left of the said field; said bear shall be dark brown in color and in length, equal to one-third of the length of said flag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_grizzly_bear
Grizzly bear meat became a mainstay on restaurant menus in the San Gabriel area; according to Mike Davis, “The paws from adult bears and the flesh from young cubs were deemed particular delicacies.”[39]
In 1866, a grizzly bear described as weighing as much as 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) was killed in what is present-day Valley Center, California, in the north-central area of San Diego County. The incident was recalled in 1932 by Catherine E. Lovett Smith, who witnessed the bear’s killing on her family’s ranch when she was just six years old. If its measurements are accurate, this particular bear was the biggest bear ever found in California and one of the largest specimens of any bear species ever recorded.
Extinction
The last hunted California grizzly bear was shot in Tulare County, California, in August 1922, although no body, skeleton or pelt was ever produced. Less than 75 years after the discovery of gold in 1848, almost every grizzly bear in California had been tracked down and killed. In 1924, what was thought to be a grizzly was spotted in Sequoia National Park for the last time and thereafter, grizzlies were never seen again in California.
Apex predators tended not to have evolved the instinct to hide, which served them poorly when Earth’s superpredator decided that they were delicious.
why does the flag only have 1 head?
Context: For those not familiar, the Fallout video game series has a spoofed version of the California state flag:
Ah yes, good thing the California deserts are all shaded in. This is a great map.
So sad the Death Valley Grizzlies didn’t make it.
What part of history. Pre Western expansion, pre contact, or pre Holocene.
Early 1900s
Is there any overlap with current and historical ranges?
Exactly. Is this map showing us that theyre moving north/west or is it showing us the area is shrinking. I cant really draw any conclusions
You know what, I’m just going to say it … I’m glad they don’t occupy that same range any longer. Grizzly bears are terrifying and I like being in nature.
This list is probably not a complete accounting of all incidents, but it dates back to the 1780s, and has 88 cases where a brown bear killed a human.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America
Going the other direction:
https://www.fws.gov/species/grizzly-bear-ursus-arctos-horribilis
Prior to 1800, an estimated 50,000 grizzly bears were distributed in one large contiguous area throughout all or portions of 18 western States, including Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Grizzly bears were reduced to close to 2% of their former range in the 48 contiguous states by the 1930s, with a corresponding decrease in population, approximately 125 years after first contact with European settlers.
The kill-to-death ratio is pretty favorable to humans.
You like being in a sanitised artificial nature. It’s like someone who likes castles hanging out at Disneyland.
I live in a place without grizzly bears, must be Disneyland
I’ve definitely seen more than one grizzly in that finger of green in South Central BC…
Yeah, this map is wrong. There are a handful of grizzlies in the Northern Cascades.
Why did they historically not go further east?
They did, at least into Minnesota. This range map probably doesn’t use data from as long ago as when they did.
What. I thought they were supposed to be the jewel of american culture. I didn’t know they were basically extinct from the lower 48.
Historically, if you weren’t talking about the bald eagle, the US tended to be symbolized by the bison (which we in the US call the "buffalo). It got pretty clobbered too, though.
Am I the only one seeing a bat humping a T-rex?
You have a wiiiiild imagination. Can you make a drawing?
Good thing is that’s clearly consentual.
And since my head cannon claims that all T-rexes are boys (I don’t know why). It is also werry gay.
Edit: I know why T-rex is boy, because it’s masculine word in my gendered language “Ten tyrannosaurus rex” (Word “ten” meaning gendered the/this, similar to german Der)
Uhh… Yeah.
