This large female grizzly bear, seen here tucked in behind some dying and decaying ‘Queen Anne’s Lace’, is showing us her fine profile and pre-hibernation size and shape. Unlike camels, whose humps store water for use across the dessert, a grizzly bear’s hump comprises of fat and solid muscle – used to help them dig a winter den or search for food and to provide additional strength to their front legs. Black bears on the other hand, who are also quite strong in human terms and also keen diggers of roots and tubers, do not have the prominent hump seen on the grizzly. This is a good way to identify bears, but sometimes you have to look closely – in younger grizzlies and during early days of post hibernation, a grizzly bear’s hump can appear less distinguishable or quite flat.
