There were some hikers in Yellowstone National Park receiving instruction from a park ranger. They asked the ranger about the dangers they would face from bears. The ranger told them that there was not much danger from bears, but that each of them should carry a can of bear spray and some silver bells.
The ranger said that most people get in trouble with bears because the bears don't hear them until they are very close and then feel threatened, and attack out of fear. The ranger said that if they come across fresh bear sign, they should jiggle the silver bells to alert the bear to their presence. The ranger said that if the bells fail at scaring the bear off, they should stand their ground and spray the bear with the bear spray if it gets too close.
The ranger said that it was important to identify what type of bear they were dealing with by examining their dropping (poop). He told them that a black bear’s droppings will have berries and twigs in it. A brown bear’s droppings will have fish bones in it.
The ranger concluded his instructions and turned to leave, but one of the hikers stopped the ranger and said, “Hey! You didn’t tell us how to identify grizzly bear poop.” The ranger stopped and casually said, “Grizzly bear poop is the easiest of all to identify. It will have silver bells and cans of bear spray in it!”
