Cornering the Bear Market

As any grade-school pupil can tell you, the grizzly bear adorns the California state flag even though it no longer roams the state. The majestic beast has been absent from the local terrain since the last grizzly was killed in 1922. But they are back in significant--and stuffed--numbers as part of an exhibit opening Saturday on “Bears: Imagination and Reality” at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The traveling exhibit has been brought here from the Science Museum of Minnesota because of the fascination people have with large mammals in general and bears in particular, says John Heyning, the Natural History Museum’s curator of mammals.

“Any animal that can get up to 1,000 pounds has some mystique,” he says. “People are [aware] that bears exist, but many people don’t know much about them. This gives us an opportunity to contrast our popular image of the bear with what scientists have been learning over the past 30 or 40 years.”

The culture that has grown up around bears, from cave drawings to cartoon characters and antique teddy bears, will be showcased along with scientific displays that explain the decline of the grizzly in the lower 48 states and that examine their future.

More than 25 taxidermy mounts of grizzlies and black bears will be set up in simulated natural settings. (The grizzly, the black bear and the polar bear are the only three bears now living in the United States.)

“I think it will provide families in an urban area such as Los Angeles a real pathway to understanding the wilderness,” Heyning says. “These animals are almost icons of the wilderness, and people don’t get a chance to go out and see them like they should.”

Visitors will be able to take part in a simulated bear-tracking expedition in the museum.

With the help of a museum employee, they will use a radio-tracking system to locate a bear in its “den,” remove the “sleeping bear” and learn about some of the tests used to monitor bears that have been marked with radio-tracking collars in the wild. (Bear-tracking will take place at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.)

For the first time, the museum also is incorporating live theater into an exhibit. “Tales of the Grizzly,” short plays featuring professional actors, will depict real-life situations that relate to the bears’ lives. The plays, dialogues between a rancher and a fish and game warden, will examine “crucial issues” such as what happens when a grizzly ventures onto a rancher’s private land, says Karen Himes, the museum’s collections and loan programs coordinator. (The plays will be presented at noon, 12:45 and 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.)

Another theatrical presentation will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on opening day. Magical Moonshine Theater will use puppets, masks and music to perform “Traditional American Bear-Time Stories,” which includes a Native American folk tale about a coyote and a grizzly bear.

Himes says the scientific part of the exhibit is great in a fun way. It offers great insight into learning about these bears and understanding the problems of human encroachment and diminishing quantities.”

Interactivity is emphasized throughout. Bear hides, skulls, teeth and paws can be touched. Computer games on managing a bear habitat can be played, and teddy-bear tales will be told on an 8-foot teddy-bear couch at 2:30 p.m. weekdays.

Bears of the stuffed toy variety also will be honored between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Nov. 13 at a Teddy Bear Funday, when visitors 12 and younger who show up with stuffed bears will be admitted free. (One free admission per paid adult.) Contests will be held to see who brings the smallest, largest or oldest bears, and to see which bear most resembles its owner.

“They also can bring the teddy to the ER, where they will be waited on by a ‘medical team’ that will be prescribing new ribbons and making quick fixes to tears,” Himes says. Much like bears who are collared to be studied in the wild, the teddy bears will be tagged with medals commemorating their visits.

BE THERE

“Bears: Imagination and Reality,” Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. Saturday through Jan 2. 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Adults, $8; children 5 to 12, $2; under 5, free. (213) 763-DINO.