Ethnic Terms

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, Anthony Grant wrote:
> ... As to 'black bear', the Osage or Ponca form (I'm not sure which)
> has been borrowed into Comanche as a normal term for black bear.
> Armagost and Wistrand-Robinson's Comanche dictionary gives the form as
> wasa'pe with an underlined e.  I don't know US ecology too well: would
> black bears have lived away from the original Comanche homeland, I
> wonder, so as to necessitate the borrowing of the term?  Do they have
> blakc bears in Utah or wherever the Comanches set out from in the 18th
> century?

My recollection is that black bears are (a) as often as not some shade
other than black, e.g., brown, and (b) pretty much everywhere in North
America.  Grizzlies were first encountered on the Plains, and apparently
didn't extend west of the Mississippi.  The easiest distinguishing
feature, apart from average size, is the nose.  The black bear is roman
nosed, like the polar bear, while the grizzly has a dished in, or
high-browed face.  The folk lore on distinguishing the two is to annoy the
bear and then climb a tree.  If the bear follows you up the tree it's a
black bear.  If it tried to knock the tree down it's a grizzly.