correction
A previous version of this article mistakenly described Alexis Mychajliw as an ecologist from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is a paleontologist at Middlebury College. The article has been corrected.
In April 1924, a road crew was working in Sequoia National Park, near the spectacular granite dome of Moro Rock, when a large shape emerged from the woods. These workers had previously been stationed with the Park Service at Yellowstone, and they were familiar with the animal that walked by their camp. In their report, they noted its cinnamon-colored fur and the prominent hump on its back, both telltale signs of a grizzly bear.