Animals of the Canadian Rockies: Grizzly Bear

Taken from our stopped bus, as our driver screeched to a stop on seeing this near Lake Louse.

We knew we were lucky seeing this. It was about 100m from our road, moving by a river. The bus was stopped and I managed to get this through a open window but trees and foilage marred the view somewhat via this long 270mm (400mm equivalent) lens. I was pretty happy with this capture though as my fellow bus riders got nothing like this. Of course our driver had his hand on the ignition and foot near the accelerator in case it crossed the river and ran towards us :)

"Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) have concave faces, a distinctive hump on their shoulders, and long claws about two to four inches long. Both the hump and the claws are traits associated with a grizzly bear’s exceptional digging ability. Grizzlies are often dark brown, but can vary from very light cream to black. The long guard hairs on their backs and shoulders frequently have white tips and give the bears a "grizzled" appearance, hence the name "grizzly." The correct scientific name for the species is “brown bear,” but only coastal bears in Alaska and Canada are referred to as such, while inland bears and those found in the lower 48 states are called grizzly bears." - defenders.org