Species: Ursus arctos

Brown Bear
Species

    Color ranges from pale yellowish to dark brown; usually white tips on the hairs, especially on the back, resulting in a frosted or grizzled effect; facial profile concave; claws on front feet of adults about 4 inches long and curved; noticeable hump above shoulders; head and body of adults about 6-8 feet, height at shoulders 3-4.5 feet (Burt and Grossenheider 1964).

    Articles:

    Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis)

    This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.

     

    Grizzly bear. Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Mammalia

    Order

    Carnivora

    Family

    Ursidae

    Genus

    Ursus

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Grizzly Bear - Mexican Grizzly Bear - ours brun - ours grizzli
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Carnivores
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Carnivora - Ursidae - Ursus - Various kinds of evidence (fossils, protein, mitochondrial DNA) indicate that the brown bear and polar bear are sister taxa, more closely related to each other than either is to the black bear (see Shields and Kocher 1991, Cronin et al. 1991). In fact, recent mtDNA data indicate that the brown bear is paraphyletic with respect to the polar bear (i.e., brown bears from certain areas are genetically more closely related to the polar bear than they are to other brown bears) (e.g, Waits et al. 1998, Barnes et al. 2002, and other sources cited therein).

    Color ranges from pale yellowish to dark brown; usually white tips on the hairs, especially on the back, resulting in a frosted or grizzled effect; facial profile concave; claws on front feet of adults about 4 inches long and curved; noticeable hump above shoulders; head and body of adults about 6-8 feet, height at shoulders 3-4.5 feet (Burt and Grossenheider 1964).

    Short General Description
    A large bear.
    Migration
    true - true - false - Home range exhibits much variation among different individuals, areas, and seasons; male range generally is larger than that of female; annual range varies from less than 25 sq km (Kodiak Island) to more than 2000 sq km (see LeFranc et al. 1987), generally several hundred sq km (Banci 1991, Pasitschniak-Arts 1993). Range from 2,000 to 60,000 hectares in Yellowstone, averaging 8,000 hectares (Craighead 1976); male home ranges in the Yukon averaged 41,400 hectares (Pearson 1975).
    Non-migrant
    true
    Locally Migrant
    true
    Food Comments
    Opportunistic omnivore. In all areas, vegetal matter is a dominant portion of the diet. Feeds on carrion, fish (especially coastal populations), large and small mammals, insects, fruit, grasses, bark, roots, mushrooms, and garbage. May cache food (and guard it). In the Yellowstone region, ungulate remains were a major portion of early season scats; graminoids dominated in May and June, and whitebark pine seeds were most important in late season scats; berries composed a minor portion of scats in all seasons (Mattson et al. 1991). May feed on insect aggregations (e.g., army cutworm moths, ladybird beetles); in Shoshone National Forest, Yellowstone ecosystem, alpine insect aggregations are an important source of food, especially in the absence of high-quality foraging alternatives in July and August of most years (Mattson et al. 1991). In Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, main food was roots of HEDYSARUM SULPHURESCENS in spring and autumn, ERYTHRONIUM GRANDIFLORUM corms and green vegetation (mainly umbellifers) from June through early August; VACCINIUM fruits were important in late July and August (see Hamer et al. [1991] for further details). Sometimes preys on black bear and conspecifics (Mattson et al., 1992, J. Mamm. 73:422-425).
    Reproduction Comments
    Breeds in late spring and early summer. Implantation is delayed; gestation lasts about 184 days. Litter size is 1-4 (average 2). Young are born in winter, remain with mother usually the first two winters. Breeding interval generally is 2-4 years. In North America, first parturition occurs at 5-6 years in the south, 6-9 years in the north. A few live as long as 20-25 years. Long life span, late sexual maturity, protracted reproductive cycles.
    Ecology Comments
    May congregate in areas with abundant food; otherwise solitary except when breeding or caring for young. Density estimates range from 1/1.5-4 sq km (Kodiak Island) to 1/50 sq km (Yellowstone) to 0.6-7.9/1000 sq km (Norway). <br><br>In the Yellowstone region, lack of berries and large fluctuations in the size of pine seed crops were major factors limiting bear density (Mattson et al. 1991). <br><br>In British Columbia-Montana, survivorship of adult and subadult females was the most important variable in estimating population trend.
    Length
    213
    Weight
    680000
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G4
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    2000-02-17
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-11-18
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S3&CA.BC=S3&CA.LB=__&CA.MB=SX&CA.NT=S3&CA.NU=SNR&CA.QC=__&CA.SK=SX&CA.YT=S3&US.AK=S4&US.AZ=SX&US.CA=SX&US.CO=SX&US.ID=S1&US.KS=SX&US.MN=SX&US.MT=S2&US.NN=SX&US.NE=SX&US.NV=SX&US.NM=SX&US.ND=SX&US.OK=SX&US.OR=SX&US.SD=SX&US.TX=SX&US.UT=SX&US.WA=S1&US.WY=S1" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Formerly throughout western North America, north from northern Mexico; northwestern Africa, all of the Palearctic from western Europe, Near and Middle East through the northern Himalayas to western and northern China and Chukot (Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan) (Wozencraft, in Wilson and Reeder 1993); see Pasitschniak-Arts (1993) for additional details. In North America, present range includes Alaska, northern and western Canada, northern Continental Divide in Montana, Cabinet/Yaak mountains in Montana/Idaho, Selkirk Mountains in Idaho/Washington, Northern Cascades in Washington, and Yellowstone area, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho. Some bears in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem of Montana and Idaho and Selkirk ecosystem of Idaho and Washington mingle in the Purcell Mountains in southern British Columbia, and movement data indicate that the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk populations are connected to a much larger population (several hundred bears) extending north into British Columbia (USFWS 1999). However, the listed distinct population segment is confined to the U.S. portion of these ecosystems. Common only in Alaska, parts of the Yukon, northern and coastal British Columbia, and portions of the northern Rocky Mountains. USFWS has proposed reintroduction in the Bitterroot ecosystem of east-central Idaho and adjacent Montana. In Europe, apart from northern Europe, distribution has shrunk to a few isolated populations in the Pyrenees, the Apenines, the Alps, the Balkan Peninsula, and the Carpathians (see Hartl and Hell 1994).
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102187