A close friend of mine recently shared a quote from her 2-year-old son,

“Bears can scare people, Mom. And monsters, and snakes, and lions. All sorts of animals can scare people.”

After I read his realization, I had to laugh, because within the past couple of days I have encountered 3 out of 4 of the animals he mentioned. Though my animal encounters were in black and white, and on a computer file rather than in the flesh, I would have to agree that bears, monsters, and snakes can certainly be scary…

– Two black bears in cage, Bear Group, circa 1925


– One black bear standing, Bear Group, circa 1925

– Prairie rattlesnake, from life, Colorado, circa 1925

– Gila monster from life, circa 1925


(Ah! It’s looking right at you…)

(from the glass plate negatives in the Bell Museum of Natural History collection)