Brown (Kodiak/Grizzly) Bear
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus and Species: Ursus arctos
A hulking, usually brown, animal with a humped back and powerful long claws. Although one of the most feared animals in the world, brown bears go out of their way to avoid people. Despite this, habitat loss and hunting have greatly reduced their populations.
Physical Description: Brown bears vary in size and color from region to region. The frosted, or grizzled, coats of bears living in the American west earned these animals the name "grizzly." In some other areas, brown bears have whitish or blackish coats. Kodiak bearsanimals from the far northwestern North Americaare the largest brown bears. In North America, brown bears often live in the same areas as the smaller American black bear. Brown bears are distinguished from black bears by their humped shoulders, more upturned snouts, longer fur, and longer claws. Brown bears have large snouts but small ears.
Size: Male brown bears grow larger than females. On all four legs, a brown bear stands up to five feet tall. But standing on two legs, as brown bears can do for short periods, a large individual towers up to nine feet tall. Females may weigh more than 450 pounds, but large males reach close to 1,000 pounds. Brown bears grow from six and a half to nine feet long.
Geographic Distribution: Brown bears live in mountains and grassy wilderness in North America, Europe, and Asia. However, their range has been greatly reduced. The largest populations remain in Alaska, Canada, and Russia. Small populations hang on in Austria, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Syria, northern India (in the Himalaya), and other countries. Fewer than 1,000 animals live in the lower 48 U.S. states, mainly around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
Status: Outside Alaska, the U.S. brown bear population is listed as threatened. Scattered small populations in other areas, such as in Europe, are endangered, with sometimes only a few individuals remaining.
Habitat: Brown bears live in a wide variety of open, or semi-open, northern habitats, including grasslands, coastlines, tundra, and mountain and lowland forests.
Natural Diet: Like their habitats, brown bear diets vary. Brown bears are classic omnivoresanimals that eat both meat and plants. Most brown bears primarily eat vegetation, including tubers (underground stems and roots), berries, and pine nuts. But they also eat moths, grubs, rodents (dug out of their burrows), carrion, and occasionally large animals such as horses, bison, and moose and other deer (usually young ones). Seasonally, salmon or trout are important foods.