I get what you're saying, but I do agree that it was largely coincidental. In the case of the grizzly bear morph, you're talking about a grizzly bear. This thing that essentially dwarfs humans and makes us look like rag dolls.
When Rachel was approaching the sleeping bear in her very human and vulnerable form, I really have to believe that the bear was sleeping spread eagled for her to notice it was male. Because as desperately insane as Rachel was, she's not stupid enough to approach a bear and try to check under the trunk. Think The Beginning with a less dignified death.
However, in my initial analysis of the Animorphs first "on screen" battle morphs, I do find a stunning comparison between the elephant and the grizzly bear.
All right, what are the characteristics of the elephant she morphed? It's large and very impractical in a small space, hard to conceal and not indigenous to North America. In many ways that was basically Rachel in the earlier books. She was a wild one who took the morphing as an excuse to really let her inner child out to play. However, the elephant is also a largely docile animal and generally only lashes out when confused.
Now, the Grizzly Bear is a slightly more focused animal. There is simply no gray area with this thing. If you get into it’s personal space it will mess your doody up no questions asked. That was how Rachel was in book seven. A focused, controlled individual who was still a bit off kilter, but for the most part she had become a more thoughtful fighter. Remember, she was the one who figured out where the Earth based Kandrona was after the Ellimist dropped the hint on the whole gang. (Including the one who could calculate the distance between Earth and the Andalite home world, but was too high on himself for finding a Yeerk pool entrance.)
