Aristotimus
The she-bear, just prior to the state called hibernation, Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 3; Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 126 f.; Mair on Oppian, Cyn. iii. 173 (L.C.L.). before she becomes quite torpid and heavy and finds it difficult to move, cleans out her Iair and, when about to enter, approaches it as lightly and inconspicuously as possible, treading on tiptoe, then turns around and backs into the den.These precautions seem to have been successful (though Cf. the implications of Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 128), since Aristotle (Historia Animal. viii. 17, 600 b 6 f.) says that either no one (or very few) has ever caught a pregnant bear. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 95 and Amm. Marc. xxii. 15. 22, of the hippopotamus entering a field backwards.
Hinds are inclined to bear their young beside a public road where carnivorous animals do not comeAristotle (Historia Animal. ix. 5, 611 a 17) notes that highways were shunned by wild animals because they feared men. Cf. also Antigonus, Hist. Mirab. 35 and Mair on Oppian, Cyn. ii. 207 (L.C.L.).; and stags, when they observe that they have grown heavy by reason of their fat and surplus flesh, vanish and preserve themselves by hiding when they do not trust to their heels. Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 113; [Aristotle], De Mir. Ausc. 5; Historia Animal. 611 a 23.
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