The lands that make up Saguaro National Park have been home to many wild wonders - colossal cacti, beautiful birds, darting deer and, fewer than 100 years ago, grizzly bears.
"It's a shock for some people to learn that we used to have grizzly bears here," said Christopher Morris, a Saguaro Park ranger who will give public talks on the topic next month.
Morris said research of historical and biological records indicates that a few grizzlies roamed the upper reaches of the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson until the 1920s. That land is now part of Saguaro Park's east district.
"The last grizzly bear on that landscape was seen in 1921 just south of Rincon Peak, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet," Morris said. "A trapper trapped it and killed it at that location."
He said killing the big bear was legal at the time.
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"When this area was settled, people would make a living any way they could - and a lot of that involved livestock," Morris said. "Predators were not considered compatible with livestock."
He said grizzlies in the area might once have lived in grassland elevations, but "with more people moving in, the only refuge they could find was up higher."
Male grizzlies in the Rincons probably weighed 600 to 800 pounds - making them nearly twice the size of black bears, Morris said.
"Add in 4-inch claws on the grizzly bear and you have an animal that is a force to be reckoned with," he said.
Morris said the grizzly bear population in Southern Arizona probably was not large because each animal would require a large amount of habitat.
"Biologists at Saguaro Park East think we have around a dozen black bears there," he said. "The grizzly population was probably about a third of that. Maybe three or four grizzlies would have used the Rincon Mountains at any one time."
It's likely that small numbers of grizzly bears roamed other Southern Arizona mountain ranges, including the Catalinas, the Santa Ritas and the Galiuros, Morris said.
His presentations next month will include information on two other predators that once lived on what are now Saguaro Park lands: jaguars and Mexican wolves.
Did you know?
Black bears are found in most of Arizona's woodland habitats. However, there is no sizable population of black bears north of the Colorado River.
Source: Arizona Game and Fish Department
If you go
• What: Illustrated talks on grizzly bears and other predators that once roamed what is now Saguaro National Park. They will be presented by Saguaro Park ranger Christopher Morris.
• When: 3 p.m. next Monday and Feb. 13, 20 and 27.
• Where: Visitor center at Saguaro Park's east district, 3693 S. Old Spanish Trail.
• Cost: The talks are free, but park entrance fees of $10 per vehicle will be in effect.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
