Griz Along The Parkway

We were treated to a rare sight the other day as we drove along the Columbia Icefields Parkway.
We were blessed to see a Grizzly Bear.
This one is a young adult, we think it might be about three years old. Despite it's relative youth, it was huge.
The photo above shows off its shoulder hump. That's one of the distinguishing characteristics for telling a griz from an ordinary brown bear or a cinnamon black bear.




This shows griz in profile. The dished in look of the skull is another distinguishing physical marker. Brown and black bears have rounder faces.

Alberta Grizzlies are a threatened species. There are only a few hundred left in the Province due to the massive oil exploration here and up until recently, they were hunted.

We'd be a much poorer people without the grizzlies.