Sources : Bear
Aristotle [ca. 350 BCE] (De animalibus Book 8, chapter 19.1): It is evident that the wild bears conceal themselves; but there is some doubt whether it is on account of the cold or from any other cause, for at this season both the males and females are so fat that they cannot move easily. The female also produces her young at this season, and hides herself until the cubs are of an age to be led forth. - [Cresswell translation, 1887]
Ovid [1st century CE] (The Metamorphoses, Book 15, 361-390): The cub that a she-bear has just produced is not a cub but a scarcely living lump of flesh: the mother gives it a body, by licking it, and shapes it into a form like that she has herself. - [Kline translation]
Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 54): Bears couple at the beginning of winter, and not in the usual manner of quadrupeds but both lying down and hugging each other; afterwards they retire apart into caves, in which they give birth on the thirtieth day to a litter of five cubs at most. These are a white and shapeless lump of flesh, little larger than mice, without eyes or hair and only the claws projecting. This lump the mother bears slowly lick into shape. Nor is anything more unusual than to see a shebear giving birth to cubs. Consequently the males lie in hiding for periods of forty days, and the females four months. If they have not got caves, they build rainproof dens by heaping up branches and brushwood, with a carpet of soft foliage on the floor. For the first fortnight they sleep so soundly that they cannot be aroused even by wounds; at this period they get fat with sloth to a remarkable degree (the bear's grease is useful for medicines and a prophylactic against baldness). As a result of these days of sleep they shrink in bulk and they live by sucking their fore paws. They cherish their freezing offspring by pressing them to their breast, lying on them just like birds hatching eggs. Strange to say, Theophrastus believes that even boiled bear's flesh, if kept, goes on growing in size for that period; that no evidence of food and only the smallest amount of water is found in the belly at this stage, and that there are only a few drops of blood in the neighborhood of the heart and none in the rest of the body. In the spring they come out, but the males are very fat, a fact the cause of which is not evident, as they have not been fattened up even by sleep, except for a fortnight as we have said. On coming out they devour a plant called wake-robin to loosen the bowels, which are otherwise constipated, and they rub their teeth on tree-stumps to get their mouths into training. Their eyes have got dim, which is the chief reason why they seek for hives, so that their face may be stung by the bees to relieve that trouble with blood. A bear's weakest part is the head, which is the lion's strongest; consequently if when hard pressed by an attack they are going to fling themselves down from a rock they make the jump with their head covered with their fore paws, and in the arena are often killed by their head being broken by a buffet. The Spanish provinces believe that a bear's brain contains poison, and when bears are killed in shows their heads are burnt in the presence of a witness, on the ground that to drink the poison drives a man bear-mad. Bears even walk on two feet, and they crawl down trees backward. They tire out bulls with their weight by hanging by all four feet from their mouth and horns; and no other animal's stupidity is more cunning in doing harm. It is noted in the Annals that on 19 September in the consulship of Marcus Piso and Marcus Messala, Domitius Ahenobarbus as curule aedile provided in the circus a hundred Numidian bears and the same number of Ethiopian huntsmen. I am surprised at the description of the bears as Numidian, since it is known that the bear does not occur in Africa. - [Rackham translation]
Aelianus [170-230 CE] (On the Characteristics of Animals, Book 2, chapter 19): The bear is unable to produce a cub, nor would anyone allow, on seeing its offspring immediately after birth, that it had borne a living thing. Yet the bear has been in labor, though the lump of nondescript flesh has no distinguishing mark, no form, and no shape. But the mother loves it and recognizes it as her child, keeps it warm beneath her thighs, smooths it with her tongue, fashions it into limbs, and little by little brings it into shape; and when you see it you would say that this is a bear's cub. - [Scholfield translation]
Gaius Julius Solinus [3rd century CE] (De mirabilibus mundi / Polyhistor, Chapter 26.3-9): [Chapter 26.3] Numidian bears excel others in fierceness, and have longer hair; their reproductive power is equal to those born in any other place. I will speak on this subject without delay. [Chapter 26.4] Bears do not mate in the same way as do other four-footed beasts. Suited to mutual embraces, they copulate just as human couples. Winter kindles desire in them. The males treat the pregnant mothers with respect and keep to themselves; they sleep in the same dens, but in partitioned private sleeping quarters, divided by trenches. Pregnancy is quite speedy; in fact, the womb gives forth by the 30th day. This precipitate fertility produces unformed offspring. [Chapter 26.5] The mother bears bring forth very small lumps of flesh, which are white in color and have no eyes. Because of the haste and immaturity, the cubs, excepting the outlines of claws, are nothing but undeveloped bloody matter. The mothers gradually shape the cubs by licking and cherishing them. Sometimes they hold them clasped to the breast, so they might be warmed by continual incubation and draw in the breath of life. [Chapter 26.6] Meanwhile, the mothers take no food. Indeed, for the first fourteen days they fall into sleep, and cannot be woken even if wounded. When they have given birth, they lie hidden for four months. When they go forth into the open day, they suffer so from the unaccustomed light, you would think them overcome by blindness. [Chapter 26.7] The head of the bear is feeble; their greatest strength is in their arms and loins. Whence, they sometimes stand on their hind feet. They ambush beehives, as they greatly desire honeycombs; they do not pursue anything more avidly than honey. [Chapter 26.8] When they have tasted the fruits of the mandrake, they die, but if they fight against the destructive power of the poison, they devour ants to recover their health. [Chapter 26.9] If bears ever prey on bulls, they know the body parts against which they should above all direct their attacks: they seek the bulls’ horns and noses the most. They seek the horns so that they may exhaust the bulls by their weight, and the nostrils so that they may inflict sharper pains in a tender place. - [Arwen Apps translation, 2011]
Saint Ambrose [4th century CE] (Hexameron, Book 6, chapter 4.18-19): Although 'a bear lies in wait,' as Scripture says - for she is a wild beast full of deceit - when she finds her young at the moment of birth to be formless, she immediately proceeds to lick them with her tongue until they become like her in form and shape. ... What shall we say about the bear and the art of medicine? She knows, in fact, how to heal herself when suffering from the effects of a serious wound. She lies under a plant called by the Greeks 'flomus' and touches it with her open sores, which are thereby healed. - [Savage translation, 1961]
Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 2:22): The bear (ursus) is said to be so called because it shapes its offspring in its own mouth (ore suo), as if the word were orsus, for people say that it produces unshaped offspring, and gives birth to some kind of flesh that the mother forms into limbs by licking it. But prematurity is what causes this kind of offspring; the bear gives birth after at most thirty days, whence it happens that its hurried gestation creates unshaped offspring. Bears have weak heads; their greatest strength is in their forepaws and loins, whence they sometimes stand up erect. - [Barney, Lewis, et. al. translation]
Hildegard von Bingen [1098-1179 CE] (Physica, Book 7.4): When a bear conceives she is so impatient in childbirth that, in her impatience, she aborts before the cubs within her have come to maturity. Although they receive vital air in their mother, they do not move within her. When she gives birth, she pours out something like flesh that, though it has vital air within it, does not move; it does have all the exterior features of its shape. Seeing this, the mother grieving, licks it, passing her tongue over all its features until all its limbs are distinguished. She spreads herself over it, warming it. In five or six days, a cub large enough to rise grows from her warmth. Until the time she abandons her cubs, she does not leave them alone but, if disturbed by hunters, she will carry them in her claws and run on three feet. At that time, they are still immature. - [Throop translation]
Aberdeen Bestiary [circa 1200 CE] (folio 14r-15v):The bear is said to get its name because the female shapes her new-born cub with her mouth, ore, giving it, so to speak, its beginning, orsus. For it is said that they produce a shapeless fetus and that a piece of flesh is born. The mother forms the parts of the body by licking it. The shapelessness of the cub is the result of its premature birth. It is born only thirty days after conception, and as a result of this rapid fertility it is born unformed. The bear's head is not strong; its greatest strength lies in its arms and loins; for this reason bears sometimes stand upright. ... When sick, the bear eats ants. Bears are bred in the same way, wherever they come from. They do not mate like other quadrupeds but embrace each other when they copulate, just like the couplings of humans. Winter arouses their desire. The males respect the pregnant females, and honor them by leaving them alone; although they may share the same lair at the time of birth, they lie separated by a trench. ... They attack beehives and try hard to get honeycombs. There is nothing they seize more eagerly than honey. If they eat the fruit of the mandrake they die. But they prevent the misfortune from turning into disaster and eat ants to regain their health. If they attack bulls, they know the parts to threaten the most, and will not go for any part except the horns or nose: the nose, because the the pain is sharper in the more tender place.
Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Quadrupeds 4.105): The bear is an animal with too much fat, and its limbs are deformed. It has a skinned member almost like a man's. Its greatest strength is in its arms and loins. But its head is feeble and weak. Ambrose: On the thirtieth day after conception, a bear gives birth to a premature offspring, a little bigger than a rat, as Pliny says; she licks the flesh which she brings forth from herself, and by caressing and forming the fetus she brings it forth into members. Sometimes they caress the babies, so that they draw the breath of the animal when they are constantly warmed up. Of course, mothers meanwhile during the first fourteen days fall so asleep that they cannot even be awakened by wounds. As soon as they go out into the daylight they suffer such an excess of light, that you would think they are blinded. And so in the fetus itself, when it is born, no member is visible except the features of the claws. Pliny: Bears do not copulate like other quadrupeds, but like humans. There are certain times when they are lustful. Solinus: Males respect pregnant females with secret honor. Nothing is rarer than to see a bear giving birth. If they do not have caves, they build piles of branches and stalks in places that are more impenetrable, covered with soft leaves.Aristotle: Female bears are stronger and bolder than males, as is the case with leopards; they are domesticated more quickly and are more cunning. They have four breasts. The bear eats indifferently the meat and fruits of the earth or of trees, because of the humidity of its body. It climbs trees either because of fear or because of food. But it breaks olive trees and eats their fruit, eats crabs or ants for medicine. But it eats meat because it is the food of great strength. Bears prefer to swallow water with their mouths rather than drink it as others do. The meat of bears, as Pliny says, seem to grow when cooked, which is contrary to the behavior of all other meats. It has little blood, except around the heart. In winter indeed they walk a little, but in the spring they go forth, and yet then they are preening, especially the males. The cause of which is not readily available, especially since in the winter season they sleep much. It is found in the books of the scientists that the bear enters the earth in winter and lies there without food for two months. And the reason, how this can be done, is to note that the nourishment of any animal is twofold: bodily food by which the members are restored, and sensible air by which the spirits are restored. For without the inspiration of air, manifest or hidden, no living thing can live, because it cannot live without the spirits by which it is vegetated. And indeed, just as there is a variety of spirits in grossness, fineness, and moderation, so for their repair a variety of air is required. We see that some, because of the grossness of the spirits, dwell only in water like fish, some on earth like moles, some in the air like gnats, and some in fire like salamanders. It is certain, however, that in the bear the elements earth and air predominate in a mixture, from which it is necessary for the spirit to recover. Hence the grace of similitude in winter, when the denser air rises, it descends to the ground, and this is the cause of the colder air. For the bear, born of a scorched humor and therefore fierce, is most injured by the cold which penetrates to the interior, owing to the excessive opening of the pores. The bear's breath is so pestilential that no wild animal can stand it, and the breath immediately rots what it touches. It prefers not only deer, but also wild pigs. When a bull is taken the bear dances on its back, and when the bull wants to strike him with its horns, the bear holds its horns in its hands and forces its shoulders down, and it is driven to the ground. But a bull without horns is not easily overcome. The bear walks upright on its hind legs when it wants to. The great Basil says, that the bear, often when pierced with a fatal wound, uses all devices to to take care of itself, especially with an herb of a certain nature which enriches its members. Bears never attack a man unless they have first received a blow from him. Besides wounds and fatal blows, all injuries and bruises are said to be healed by licking the feet. For some say that the cause of this languor is a certain disease of fury, which seizes it for many hours; and it can be quite believed, because it foams at the mouth and the whole body is moved. The Experimentator, however, says that the stronger opinion is that which is said to bring out pains by the bear licking its paws. When a bear is captured (and does not tame to the will of man), its eyes are blinded by the blazing fire. It can hardly stand [immobilis] without moving from place to place [instabilis]. It is taken in this way: hunters, noting a hollow tree in which bees have accumulated combs of honey, hang a hammer with a rope of great bulk, so as to block the opening through which there is access to the combs, and from there they fix hollowed stakes in the ground under the tree. And when the bear, who is very fond of honey, finds the hammer hanging in the way, it becomes angry and tries to throw it away. But in swinging back the hammer hits the bear, and the observing hunters capture or kill it. Pliny: When bears attack wild buffaloes, they either attack the horns or the noses: the horns are worn out by the weight, the noses are held in place so that the pain is more acute. Bears sometimes die after tasting the mandrake, but they eat an ant to recover their health. Ambrose: A bear, indeed, when afflicted with pain, gives way, and when it is wounded, knows how to heal its wounds with the herb that the Greeks call fleonus. The bear applies this herb to its wounds, that it may be cured by its touch, nature showing it the remedy. But when it is in danger of natural infirmity, it devours ants and recovers its health. The bear, among almost all the animals of the earth, always grows as long as it lives. Hence the largest and strongest bears are the oldest. The world has black bears in common; but there are white ones in some regions, and these are so large that they reach a length of fifteen cubits. As the Liber Kyrannidarum says, each of its members makes medicine for the use of man. Take the claws of his right hand to calm down the force of the fever. But the claws of the left hand drive away the demons. Its skin repels fleas. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]
Albertus Magnus [ca. 1200-1280 CE] (De animalibus, Book 22, 107): Bear is a widely recognized animal. It has a heavily humid constitution, an ungainly shape, and dense shaggy fur. Its paws are not unlike human hands and feet, and on occasion it stands erect in a human posture, but not for long. The bear has enormous strength in its flanks and arms; it uses its arms in numerous ways, e.g. beating off the attacks of dogs by wielding lengths of wood it picks up by chance; it can uproot olive trees, break into beehives and climb trees with its paws. Nevertheless the bear is a weak-brained animal, especially in the forebrain. There are aquatic and terrestrial types of bears. The aquatic variety is white in color [polar bear] and searches for its food underwater, like the otter and beaver. The land variety is carnivorous but also eats plants, honey and tree fruits; it has a fetid breath and, as we mentioned before, belongs to the class of animals that hibernate during the winter, the season of phlegm production; consequently, the she-bear gives birth during this season because of the increase and retention of body heat. In the newborn cubs the bodily members seem to be inadequately developed because of a superabundance of humor; hence, the mother licks and fondles her young for a long time. Except in the region of the heart, the bear has a relative scarcity of blood. Unlike other meats, bear meat swells when cooked, because copious juices are released by the heat of cooking. When engaged in fighting, the bear springs at its opponent and, if the victim is a horned animal, grasps the horns with its claws and wrestles the animal to the ground. Under ordinary circumstances a bear will not deliberately attack a man, unless the man inflicts a wound which enrages the beast. When in pain, a bear gnashes its teeth and licks its paws. It attempts to heal puncture wounds and lacerations by applying plants of a dry nature. To counteract sickness the bear devours ants and also eats a plant called “fleonus” in Greek, or “herba ursi” in Latin. Some people claim the bear never stops growing and cite instances in which bears have attained a length of fifteen cubits. In our part of the world bears come in three colors: white, black and brown. There are many methods for capturing bears, which need not be mentioned here. Suffice it to say, captive bears can sometimes be tamed and trained to become playful animals, but they are easily provoked to the point of venting uncontrollable rage and killing humans. They can be taught to turn horizontal wheels by trudging in a circle and, through a system of blocks-and-tackles, draw water from a well or lift rocks to the top of a high wall; I have witnessed this process on many occasions. Unlike other quadrupeds, the bear copulates iy the same position as man and the primates.- [Scanlan]
Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (Liber de proprietatibus rerum, Book18.111=112): [Book 18.111] The Beare is called Ursus, and hath that name, for with his mouth he shapeth his whelpe, and so he is called, Ursus, as it were Orsus. She whelpeth before hir time, as Isido[re] saith li. 12. For Avicen[na] saieth, that the Beare bringeth forth a péece of flesh unperfect and evill shapen, and the dam licketh the lumpe, and shapeth the members with licking: and thereof is written. Hic format lingua soctum, quem protulit ursa. The Beare shapeth with hir tongue, the broode that she bréedeth and bringeth forth. And this unripe whelping maketh, and then he gendereth the thirtie daye, and thereof commeth hastie whelping and evill shaps. The Beares head is féeble, and his most strength is in his armes and in the loynes, and therfore he may stand thrée daies, as Isi[dore] saith li. 12. cap. de bestiis. Or els this name Ursus commeth of Urgendo, to thrust & constraine that thing that he taketh. Lib. 8. cap. 37. Plin[ius] speaketh of Beares, & saith, that their gendring is in the beginning of winter, and gender not as other foure footed beastes doe, but they gender both lieng, and then they depart a sunder each from other, and goe in dens and eyther by themselves, and whelpeth therein the xxx. daye, and the whelpes be not moe, than five, and be white and evill shapen, for the whelpe is a piece of flesh little more than a Mouse, having neither eyen nor haire, and having claws some deale bourging, and so this lumpe she licketh, and shapeth a whelpe with licking: and so men shall sée no where beastes more seldome gender nor whelp than Beares, and therefore the males hide them and lurke fortie dayes, and the females aray their houses foure months with boughs fruite and braunches, and covereth it, for to kéepe out the raine with softe twigs and braunches. The first fortye dayes of these dayes, they sléepe so fast, that they may not be awaked wt wounde, and that time they fast mightely: and the greace of a Beare, helpeth against the falling of the haire. And after these dayes she sitteth up, and lyveth by sucking of hir féete, and imbraceth the cold whelpes, and holdeth them close to hyr breast, and heateth and comforteth them, and lyeth groveling upon them, as birds doe. And it is wonder to tell a thing, that Theophrastus saieth, and telleth, that Beares flesh sod that time, vanisheth if it be laide up, and is no token of meate found in the Almerie, but a little quantitie of humour: and hath that time small droppes of bloud about the heart, and no manner of bloud in the other deale of the body. And in springing time the males goe forth and be fat, and the cause thereof is unknowen, namely, for that time they be not fatted with meate neither with sléepe, but onely seaven dayes. And when she goeth out of hir den, she séeketh an hearb, & eateth it to make soft hir womb, that is then hard & bound, than hir eyen be dimmed, and therfore namely they labour to get them honnie combes, for the mouth should not be wounded with stinging of Bées & bléed, and so reléeve the heavinesse & sore ache of their eyen: his head is full féeble, that is most strong in the Lyon, and therefore somtime he falleth downe headlong upon the rockes, and falleth uppon gravell, and dieth soone: and as men saye, the Beares braine is venemous, & therfore when they be slayne, their heads be burnt in open places, for men shuld not taste of the braine, and fall into madnes of Beares. And they fight against Buls, and take them cruelly with the mouth, and hangeth on them by their féete and hornes, and draweth them with waight downe to the ground, and renteth & slaieth them with biting: and no beast hath so great sleight to doe evill déedes, as the Beare. Huc usque Plin[ius]. libr. 8. cap. 37. And Arist[otle] speaketh of the Beare lib. 7. & saith that the Beare eateth all things, for he eateth fruite of trées, when he climeth upon them, & breaketh Bée hives, and eateth honie, and Bées grieveth his eyen, and stingeth his tongue, and driveth and chaseth him awaye sometime. And eateth Crabs and Antes for medicine, and eateth flesh for great strength, and fighteth with Hartes & with wilde Swine, and with hounds, & with Buls, and throweth them downe to ye ground, and goeth upright against the Bull, and ofte holdeth the hornes in his fore féete, and overcommeth him, and is an unpacient beast and wrathfull, and will be advenged on all those yt toucheth him. If another touch him, anone he leaveth the first, and réeseth on the seconde, and réeseth on the third: and when he is taken, he is made blinde with a bright basin, and bound with chaynes, and compelled to playe, and tamed with beting, and is an unstedfast beast and unstable, and uneasie, and goeth therfore all daye about the stake, to the which he is strongly tied: he lycketh and sucketh his own féete, and hath liking in the juyce thereof: he can wonderfullye climbe uppon trées, unto the highest tops of them. And ofte Bées gather honie in hollowe trées, and the Beare findeth honie by smell, & goeth up to the place that the honnye is in, and maketh a waye into the Trée with his clawes, and draweth out the honie and eateth it, and commeth ofte by custome unto such a place, when he is an hungred: and the Hunter taketh héed thereof, and pitcheth full sharpe hookes and stakes about the foote of the trée, and hangeth craftely a right heauie hammer or wedge, before ye open way to ye hony, then the Beare commeth, and is an hungred, and the logge that hangeth ther on high letteth him, and he putteth awaye the wedge with violence, but after the removing, the wedge falleth againe and hitteth him on the eare, and he hath indignation thereof, and putteth away the wedge fiercely, and then the wedge falleth and smiteth him harder than it did before: and be striveth so long with the wedge, untill his féeble head doth fayle, by ofte smiting of the wedge, and then he falleth downe upon the prickes and stakes, and slayeth himselfe in that wise. Theophrastus telleth of this manner Hunting of Beares, and learned it of the Hunters in the Country of Germanie. [Book 18.112] The female Beare is called Ursa, and is a Beast most cruell, when hir whelpes be stolne, for she is right busie to save hir whelpes, and therefore she licketh them busilye, and giveth them sucke, and nourisheth them, and putteth hir selfe ofte foorth with all hir might, against them that would take away hir whelpes. And she departeth from the male when she hath conceived, and commeth not in his company, till ye whelps be perfectly shapen, as he saith. And shée hideth hir selfe in time of lechery, and is ashamed to be séene in the time of love: also then the male spareth the female, & commeth not to hir, till she hath whelped, as Ari[stotle] Plin[ius] and Avicen[na] meane. Also lib. 73. Beares licketh not drinke: as beasts doe with sawie téeth, and sucketh not, neither swalloweth, as beasts doe that have continuall téeth, as shéepe and men: but biteth ye water, & swaloweth it. - [Batman]