GODWIN - The Extinction of the California Grizzly Bear

 

         

             My research topic for the final poster is the history of the extinction of the California Grizzly Bear, also known as the California Chaparral Bear. I decided to choose this topic because I signed up as one of the co-moderators for the week on endangered species and after reading the Alagona piece on the California Grizzly Bear and how it was driven to extinction despite it being the main symbol of the state of California. I was a part of the majority of the American people who are unaware of the fact that the grizzly bear, the same one that is on the California state flag, has been extinct from our state for nearly a century. Once I became aware of this sad truth, I was very interested in researching more about the history behind the decimation of the grizzly bear population and the factors that contributed to its actual extinction. The history of the California grizzly's extinction is an important history which had a major effect on the future conservationist policies that arose in California in the decades following the bear's extinction. Looking at the ways in which human intervention and interruption of the grizzly bear's habitats, diets, and natural resources can provide us with insight on what not to do in the future in order to maintain natural habitats and biodiversity as well as what Californian ecologists and conservationists have been doing to prevent such a loss of biodiversity over the past century.                              

           

     Map of the population densities of the North                       Cornelius B. Johnson and the Sunland               American Grizzly Bear. Shows where grizzly                      grizzly in 1916. Johnson unknowingly               bears were located throughout time and how                        killed the last known grizzly in Southern          grizzly populations declined throughout history.                 California and the second-to-last known                                                                                                            grizzly in all of California.       

     My sources so far: 

     

     

     

     

     

       These sources include chapters from books, scholarly journals, and historical accounts that describe the state of life for humans and the grizzly bears in California during the 19th century and what factors contributed to its downfall. I am planning on using these sources to not only discuss the actual history of the decline and eventual extinction of the California grizzly bear, but I am also going to discuss the relationship between humans and the grizzly throughout Californian history. These sources provide me with descriptions of how life was like for both Californian settlers and the grizzly bears starting in the time of the indigenous people and continuing through the dramatic ecological changes that occurred throughout the 19th century. I am also interested in researching more on the mindset of Anglo Californian settlers during the 19th century and how they viewed grizzly bears because throughout my research so far, I have read about how grizzly bears were a symbol of masculine power and domination and how many hunters sought after the thrill and reward of killing a grizzly bear. This mindset and how deeply it is ingrained into the development of our state is very interesting to me and is definitely a topic that I will continue to focus my research on, and I also want to take this mindset into consideration while I research how and why the grizzly bear became the symbol of California. I might also continue my research by discussing the state of the North American grizzly bear to this day and how we see its population in the future and what is being done today to prevent its complete extinction from the continent. 

The official seal of the state of California. The seal includes 

depictions of the roman goddess Minerva, who is the goddess 

of wisdom and war, the California grizzly bear, a miner who 

represents the Gold Rush, and sailing ships, which represent 

the state's economic influence and power. It is important 

to take into consideration what is being depicted in this 

seal and why these images were chosen as representations

of our state while others were left out of the image.