This habit appears
due to some internal pain: at all events, the gut is so slender and
weak that, if you strike the animal ever so softly, it is apt to break
asunder, though the hide of the animal remains sound and uninjured.
30
Bears, as has been previously stated, do not copulate with the
male mounting the back of the female, but with the female lying down
under the male. The she-bear goes with young for thirty days. She
brings forth sometimes one cub, sometimes two cubs, and at most
five. Of all animals the newly born cub of the she bear is the
smallest in proportion to the size of the mother; that is to say, it
is larger than a mouse but smaller than a weasel. It is also smooth
and blind, and its legs and most of its organs are as yet
inarticulate. Pairing takes Place in the month of Elaphebolion, and
parturition about the time for retiring into winter quarters; about
this time the bear and the she-bear are at the fattest. After the
she-bear has reared her young, she comes out of her winter lair in the
third month, when it is already spring. The female porcupine, by the
way, hibernates and goes with young the same number of days as the
she-bear, and in all respects as to parturition resembles this animal.
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