Talking about Brown Bear

 

Today I am going to be talking about the Brown Bear

1: Facts about the Brown Bear

1.1: Short Facts about the Brown Bear

1.2: Long Facts about the Brown Bear

2: More Facts about Brown Bears

2.1: Appearance

2.2: Size

2.3: Habitat

2.4: Distribution

2.5: Reproduction

2.6: Social System

2.7: Diet

3: Brown Bears

4: Evolution and taxonomy

4.1: Generalized names and evolution

4.2: Scientific taxonomy

4.3: Hybrids

5: Description

5.1: Colour

5.2: Cranial morphology and size

5.3: Claws and feet

6: Distribution and habitat

6.1: Conservation status

7: Behaviour and life history

7.1: Communication

7.2: Home ranges

7.3: Reproduction

7.4: Dietary habits

7.5: Interspecific predatory relationship

7.6: Longevity and mortality

 

 

Facts about the Brown Bear

Brown bears have long captured inside our imaginations in ways that a few other types of wild animals have - as they can stand on their two hind legs, pick things up with their big paws, and also they are omnivores, they even like to eat a lot of the same food just like humans. These bears are also especially relatable due to their abilities to be able to communicate with one another through their “ sign language “ which also includes scratch marks which are left on trees, sounds and smell.

Facts about Brown bear ( Short facts )

1. Where do brown bears live?

The brown bear has the widest distribution of any type of bear, as once ranging from as far as Morocco, Algeria, and Mexico. As of today it lives in the continents of North America, Asia, and also Europe, and it is also the national animal of Finland. While in the United States, you are able to see brown bears in place for example like Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, Katmai National Park, Glacial National Park, and also Yellowstone National Park.

2. How strong are the brown bears?

Brown bears have some amazing endurance. Which with their speed and their endurance they can be able to outrun a horse and are able to drag a dead elk up an entire hill.

3. How do brown bears communicate with each other’s?

Brown bears are able to communicate to each other by scratching and also rubbing onto the trees to be able to mark their territory and be able to indicate their reproductive status.

4. How long do brown bears hibernate?

Brown bears are able to hibernate inside of a den from around October to December to March to May. But it matters where they live such as if they live in the farther north area, they are able to hibernate longer. While at the more southern areas, hibernation is shorter than average or possibly may not even occur at all.

5. How big can a brown bear get?

The two general main types of brown bears are recognized as, the coastal brown bear and also the inland grizzly bear. Most of the herbivorous grizzlies can weigh as little as 530 lbs, while a brown bear living on a diet which mainly consist of spawning salmon can be able to reach up to 1,500 lbs.

6. Why are some of the brown bears called grizzlies?

In the Rocky Mountains, there are some brown bears which have long hairs on their shoulders and their back that are frosted with cream, which gives them a grizzled, blond look: thus, grizzlies!

7. How do the brown bears help keep the ecosystems in balance?

Brown bears also play as an important roles as predators – keeping the animal populations in check – and as the seed dispersers.

8. How can I be able to identify a brown bear?

Look at its shoulder jump, as a set of strong muscles that can allow the brown bears to be able to dig up roots and tear apart logs to be able to find food itself. None of the other seven bear species have that type of ability.

9. How are brown bear cubs born during the hibernation?

Brown bears mothers can give birth of their cubs while they are still asleep! Cubs born during the hibernation makes their way to the mother's chest and nurse until she is ready to wake up.

10. What is the biggest type of brown bear?

The biggest brown bear known species is called the Kodiak bears for their home on the Kodiak archipelago off the Alaska coast, these Bear giants are the largest known subspecies of brown bear.

11. Can a person be able to outrun a brown bear?

Tennis shoes or not, this is one bear that will beat you every single time if you try to outrun it. Despite the brown bears giant size and ambling demeanour, brown bears can still run super-fast up to speed of 30 mph!

12. Where is the Brooks Falls?

Brook Falls is located within  the Alaska’s Katmai National Park, and which is arguably the most famous spot in the world to be able to capture that classic shot of the brown bears catching salmon while the food is in mid-air.

13. What is the World Wildlife Fund doing to protect the brown bear species?

Brown bears live across the northern part of the hemisphere inside of the mountain forests and also river valleys. One of the world’s largest carnivores, brown bears depend on the large natural areas and are also important management indicators for a number of other different types of wildlife species. Due to the vast habitat loss, the brown bears are listed as a threatened animal in the Lower 48 states. The WWF is working its way to be able to protect the brown bears through its habitat preservation around the world, and its anti-poaching efforts inside of Asia.

13 Facts About Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) | Alask (nathab.com)

 

Facts about Brown bear ( Long facts )

1. The brown bear, ( which scientific name is Ursus arctos ), which is a shaggy haired bear ( Family Ursidae ) Native to areas like Europe, Asia, and also the Northwest of North America. Numerous different types of brown bears have been described by the people; they are also treated as several subspecies of Ursus arctos. One of the subspecies, the Kodiak bear ( U. arctos Middendorf ), can be able to weigh up to a whopping 720 kg ( 1,600 pounds ) and is often considered as the world’s largest carnivore, as its title it shares with the polar bear ( U. maritimus ), in which it grows to a similar size to it. Although the North American brown bears are traditionally called as grizzlies / grizzly bear, this common name refers to the different subspecies U. arctos horribilis, which is widespread across the North western North America. Read facts about the Grizzly bear here: Grizzly bear | Weight, Habitat, & Facts | Britannica

2. Brown bears are also omnivorous and feed on the berries, plant roots and shoots, small mammals, fish, calves of many hoofed animals, and also carrion. They often cache food in the shallow holes, and they also dig readily and vigorously in search of rodents. Except in some different parts of the southern areas, the bears like to retire to their dens during the winter time; they accumulate large amounts of fat during the late summer and autumn times. Cubs, usually twins, and are also born in winter after about six to eight months of gestation. At birth a cub weighs less than 1 kg ( 2.2 pounds ).

3. The Eurasian brown bears are generally solitary animals that are able to run and swim pretty well. They are usually about 120 – 210 cm ( which is about 48 inches to 83 inches ) in length and can weigh around 135 kg to about 250 kg ( 300 to about 550 pounds ); the exceptionally large Siberian brown bear ( which scientific name is U. arctos beringianus ), weighing to as much as 360 kg ( 800 pounds ), which is the approximate weigh of the North American grizzly bear. The coat colour is highly variable, which ranges from a greyish white through a bluish and brownish shades to almost black fur. Eurasian brown bears are most commonly seen inside of the zoos; formerly they were often trained to be able to move rhythmically to music – the so called dancing bears of the European carnivals and festivals. They once were able to roam most of the Europe and Asia; however, the animal’s southern range has been significantly reduced now.

4. Brown bears have an extremely large geographic distribution, and their worldwide populations totals out to be about 200,000 individuals or more. For these types of reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) Red List of Threatened Species has classified the brown bear as a species of one of their least concern. The brown bears live in close proximity to humans are often regarded as pests because of the animal’s attraction to the human foods. Their large size and their also relatively aggressive disposition can unsettle people who come in contact with them, and also brown bears that frequent human settlements are sometimes killed by the landowner and also the government officials. Other different sources of the brown bear mortality which includes collisions with the train and automobiles, poaching, and also sport hunting too. In addition to that, the gallbladder and bile of some of the brown bears are harvested by the people to be able to make traditional types of medicines with them that purportedly alleviate digestive problems and also inflammation and purify the blood. Many harvesting operations has also removed and sell the animals paws, which are considered as a delicacy in different parts of Asia. The Ainu people of Japan worship the brown bear as a god of the mountains, and also some of the mountain dwelling Ainu consider the bear as their ancestor.

Brown bear | Diet, Habitat, & Facts | Britannica

Here are some more facts about the brown bear!

Appearance

The brown bear which are sometimes called as grizzly bears in “ North America “ is a large animal, which their fur is usually dark brown, although their fur colour can also vary from a light cream shade colour to a dark black. The long guard hairs over the shoulders and are also pretty often a light coloured at the tips in which, from a distance away, it gives a grizzled appearance. The brown bear is a characterized by a distinctive hump on their shoulders, a slightly dished profile to their face, and their long claws on their front paws.

Size

There are considerable variability in the size of brown bears from different populations, depending on how much food is available in their area too. Determining the representative weights of a specific population is also very difficult due to there are seasonal considerations to take into account for instance, some bears can weigh almost twice as much in the fall as they might weigh as if they were at the spring time. The Adult males can weigh from about 130 kilograms up to 390 kilograms ( 300 pounds up to 860 pounds ) compared with the adult female bear it drops down to around 95 kilograms to about 205 kilograms ( 205 pounds up to 455 pounds ). At birth the cubs weigh around 340 grams to 680 grams ( 11 ounces to 1 pound 6 ounces ). If you want a better chance of finding bigger bears then off the west coast of the British Columbia and Alaska, and on offshore islands along coastal Alaska, such as the Kodiak bear and the Admiralty. There are also males which average over the 300 kilograms ( 660 pounds ) and also females which weigh over 200 kilograms ( 440 pounds ). Brown bears from the interior ranges of North America, Europe, and also the sub Arctic are roughly around two third the size of their Alaskan and Kamchatkan cousins.

Habitat

The brown bears habitat occupy the widest range out of any other bear species which some parts of where they habitat includes dense coastal forests, boreal forests, sub alpine mountain areas, tundra, deciduous forests, desert, and also semi desert areas. They were also once abundant on the central plains of North America and mostly throughout much of Europe but have since been exterminated from most of those areas.

Distribution

The range of the distribution of the brown bear is the widest of any type of species of bear in the entire world. They are usually found in localized populations which are located around the eastern and western part of Europe, across northern Asia, portions of the Himalayan Mountains, and also on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. In North America, the brown bears are usually found in western Canada, Alaska, the states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and also Washington.

Reproduction

The Female Brown bears usually reach sexual maturity at around the age of three and a half years old up to 7 years old of age. The brown bear males may become sexually mature at a similar age as the of the Female brown bears but they are not large enough to be able to enter the breeding population until they are around eight to ten years old. Mating can take place from early May all the way to the middle of July, but implantation does not occur until about October or November. The young brown cubs are usually born from about January to March. The litter size ranges from one to about four, but two is the most common. The cubs will remain with their mother for about 2 and a half years, so the most frequently that an adult female brown bear can breed is around every 3 years. In some different areas, such as near the Arctic coast, the breeding interval is considerably longer. The longevity in the wild can range from about 20 years to 25 years old although rarely the brown bear can be able to reach an age of 35 years of age because yet barely any reports have been reported.

Social System

Under most circumstances, the brown bear usually live as a lone individuals, except for the females as they are accompanied by their cubs. During the breeding season, a male may try to attend a female for up to two weeks to be able to mate with her. The brown bears are distributed in overlapping home ranges and male home range are larger than those who are occupied by females. Despite their propensity for a solitary existence, the brown bears congregate at a high densities where the food is abundant, such as like salmon streams or garbage dumps. In such circumstances, adult males are the most dominant individuals.

Diet

Brown bears mainly eat vegetation which includes grasses, sedges, bulbs, and also roots. They can also eat insects such as ants, fish, and other different small mammals, In some different areas they have become a significant predator of large hoofed mammals such as moose calves, caribou, and also elk calves.

Brown Bear | International Association for Bear Research and Management (bearbiology.org)

 

Brown Bear

The brown bear which scientific name is called Ursus arctos is part of a large bear species which are found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the population of the brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is known as the Kodiak bear. It is one of the largest living terrestrial members of the order Carnivora, it rivalled in size only by its closest relative, the Polar bear which scientific name is Ursus maritimus, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on average. The brown bear’s range includes parts of Russia, Central Asia, the Himalayas, China, Canada, the United States, Hokkaido, Scandinavia, Finland, the Balkans, the Picos de Europa, the Carpathian region ( especially Romania ), Iran, Anatolia, and finally the Caucasus. The brown bear is also recognized as a national and state animal in several different European countries.

While the brown bear’s range has shrunk down since before, it has also faced local extinctions across its wide range, it remains still as a least concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( also known as the IUCN ) with a total estimated population as of 2017 of around 110,000. As of 2012, this and also the American black bear are the only bear species which were not classified as threatened by the IUCN, though of its large size of both bears, it may be a disadvantage due to the increasing competition with humans. Populations that were hunted to extinction in the 19^th and 20^th centuries are the Atlas bear of North Africa and also the Californian, Ungavan and the Mexican population of the grizzly bear of North America. Many of the population in the southern parts of Eurasia are highly endangered as well. One of the smaller bodied forms, the Himalayan brown bear is also critically endangered, which is only occupies 2% of its former range and is threatened by a uncontrolled poaching for its body parts. The Marsican brown bear of central Italy is one of the several currently isolated populations of the Eurasian browner bear and is believed to only have a small population of around 50 bears to around 60 bears.

 

Evolution and taxonomy

The brown bear is also sometimes referred to as the “ bruin “, from Middle English. As this name was originated in the fable history of Reynard the Fox translated by William Caxton from Middle Dutch “ bruun “ or “ bruyn “, in which means the colour brown. In the mid-19^th century United States, the brown bear was termed “ Old Ephraim “ and also sometimes as “ Moccasin Joe “.

The scientific name of the brown bear is called, “ Ursus arctos “, comes from the Latin “ Ursus “, in which means “ bear “, and from arktos, the Greek word for bear.

Generalized names and evolution.

Brown bears are thought to have an evolved from Ursus etruscus in Asia. As the brown per, per Kurten ( 1976 ), has been stated as “ clearly derived from the Asian population of Ursus savini about 800,000 years ago; spread into Europe, into the New World. “ A genetic analysis which was done indicated that the brown near lineage diverged from the cave bear species complex approximately 1.2 to 1.4 million years ago, but it did not clarify if that U. savini persisted as a paraspecies for the brown bear before perishing. The oldest known fossils positively identified as from this species occur in China from about 0.5 million years ago ( 500,000 years ago ). Brown bears had entered Europe about 250,000 years ago and North Africa shortly after. The brown bears still remain from the Pleistocene period are common in the British Isles, in which where it is thought that they might have outcompeted the cave bears ( Ursus spelaeus ). And then they had entered Alaska about 100,000 years ago, thought they did not move to the south until 13,000 years ago. It is speculated that the brown bears were unable to migrate the south until the extinction of the much larger giant shored face bear ( Arctodus simus ).

Several palaeontologists suggests that the possibility of two different brown bear migrations: inland brown bears, which are also known as grizzlies, are thought to stem from narrow skulled bears which migrated from the Northern Siberia area to the Central part of Alaska and the rest of the continent, while the Kodiak bears descend from broad skulled bears from Kamchatka, in which colonized the Alaskan peninsula. Brown bear fossils discovered in Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky and also Labrador which shows that the species occurred farther east than indicated in the historic records. In North America, two different types of subspecies “ Ursus arctos horribilis “ are generally recognized – the coastal brown bear and the inland grizzly bear; these two types of broadly define the range of the size of all the brown bear subspecies.

Scientific taxonomy

There are many different types of methods used by the scientists to be able to define a bear species wand its subspecies, as no one method is always effective. Brown bear taxonomy and subspecies classification has been described as a “ formidable and confusing, “ with few authorities listing the same specific set of subspecies. Genetic testing is now perhaps the most important way to be able to define a brown bear relations and its names too. Generally, genetic testing uses the word clade rather than species because a genetic test alone cannot be able to certainly define a biological species. Most genetic studies reports have been able to show how closely related the bears are actually ( or their genetic distance ). There are hundreds of obsolete brown bear subspecies, each with its own name, and this can become a very confusing process; Hall ( 1981 ) lists 86 different types, and even as many as 90 have been proposed. However, the recent DNA analysis has been able to identify as few as five main clades in which contain all extant brown bears, while a 2017 phylogenetic study was able to reveal nine clades, including one representing the polar bears. As of 2005, 15 extant or recently extinct subspecies were recognized by the general scientific community.

As well as the exact number of overall total brown bear subspecies, its precise relationship to the other types of bears / the polar bear still remains as a debate. The polar bear is a recent offshoot of the brown bear. The point at where the polar bear is diverged from the bear is unclear, with the estimations based on the genetics and fossils which ranges from 400,000 to 70,000 years ago, but most of the recent analysis which had been done has been able  to indicate that the polar bear split was somewhere the year between 275,000 and 150,000 years ago. Under some definitions, the brown bear can be construed as the paraspecies for the polar bears.

A DNA analysis was able to shows that, apart form the recent human caused population fragmentation, the brown bears in North America are generally part of a single interconnected population system, with the exception of the population ( or subspecies ) in the Kodiak Archipelago, which has probably been isolated ever since the of the last Ice Age. These data demonstrate that U. a. gyas, U. a. horribilis, U. a. sitkensis and the U. a. stikeenensis are not distinct or a cohesive groups, and would more accurately be described as ecotypes. For example, the brown bears in any particular region of Alaska coast are most closely related to the adjacent grizzly bears than its distant populations of its brown bears, the morphological distinction seemingly driven by the brown bears having access to the rich salmon food source over there, while the grizzly bears live at a high elevation, or further away from the coast, where the plant material is the main base of their diet. The history behind the bears of the Alexander Archipelago is pretty unusual in that these islands populations carry polar bear DNA, presumably originating from a population of polar bears which were left behind at the end of the Pleistocene time, but ever since then it has been connected with the adjacent mainland populations through the movement of the males, to the point where their nuclear genomes are now more than 90% of the brown bear ancestry.

Brown bears are apparently divided into five different clades, in which some of them which coexist or co occur in other different regions.

Hybrids

A grizzly polar bear hybrid ( which is also know as the pizzly bear or a grolar bear ) is a rare ursid hybrid which can result from a cross breeding of a brown bear and also a polar bear together It has occurred both time in during captivity and also in the wild too. In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by them doing a DNA test on a weird looking bear which had been shot down in the Canadian Arctic area and seven other different hybrids have also been confirmed in the same area region, all other descended from a single female polar bear. In which previously, the hybrid had been produced inside of zoos and it was considered as a “ cryptid “ ( a hypothesized animal for which there is no scientific proof of other existence in the wild ).

Analyses of the genomes of bears which have been researched on have been able to show that the introgression between the species was widespread during the time of the evolution of the genus Ursus, including the introgression of the polar bear DNA introduced to the brown bears during the Pleistocene era.

A bear was shot down in autumn 1986 inside of Michigan, US, and it was thought to be some type of grizzly / American black bear hybrid, in which due to the bear unusual large size and its proportionally larger braincase and skull too. A DNA test was done on the bear but yet it was unable to determiner whether it was a large American black bear or a grizzly bear.

 

Description

The brown bear is the most variable in size of the modern bears. The typical size of the bear depends upon on which population it is from, and most accepted subtypes can still vary widely in size. This is in part due to the sexual dimorphism, as the male brown bears can average at least 30% larger than most of the subtypes. Individuals bears can also vary in different sizes seasonally too, in which weighing the least during the spring time due to the lack of foraging during the hibernation, and the most in the late fall, after a period of hyperphagia to put on some additional weight to be able to prepare for the hibernation time. Therefore, a bear may need to be weighed during both in spring and fall to get to b able to get an idea of its mean annual weight.

The normal range of the physical dimensions for a brown bear is from head and body length of around 1.4 to 2.8 metres ( 4 ft 7 in to 9 ft 2 in ) and a shoulder height of around 70 to 153 cm ( 2 ft 4 in 5 ft 0 in ). The tail of the bear is relatively short, as in all of the bear, from ranging 6 to 22 cm ( 2.4 to 8.7 in ) in length. The smallest brown bears, are the female during the spring time among the barren ground populations, and they can weigh so little as to roughly match the same body mass of males of the smallest living bear species, the sun bear which its scientific name is the “ Helarctos malayanus “, while the largest coastal populations attain sizes broadly similar to those of the largest living bears species, known as the polar bear. Interior brown bears are generally smaller than is often perceived, in which it behind the same weight as an average lion, at an estimate average of around 180 kg ( 400 lb ) for the males and 135 kg ( 298 lb ) as for the females, whereas the adults of the coastal population can be able to weigh twice as much as them. The average weight of an adult male bears from the 19 populations, located around the world and various different types of subspecies ( including both large and the small bodied subspecies ), were found to be 217 kg ( 478 lb ) for the males, and for the females, they have found an average from 24 different populations and found the average to be around 152 kg ( 335 lb ).

Colour

Brown bears are often not actually fully brown. Their fur is very long and very thick too, with a moderately long mane at the back of the neck which varies to somewhat across the types. While in India, the brown bears can also be a reddish with some silver tipped hairs, and in China the brown bears can be bicolored, with a yellowish brown or whitish collar across the brown bears neck, chest, and their shoulders too. Even within their well defined subspecies, individuals may show a highly variable hues of brown. The North America grizzlies can also be a dark brown or nearly fully black to a cream almost white or a yellowish brown fur, and they often have a darker coloured on their legs. The common name for them” grizzly “ stems from their typical coloration, with the hairs on their back of the bear usually being a brownish black type of colour at the base and a whitish cream at the tips of it, in which gives them their distinctive “ grizzled “ colour. Apart from the cinnamon type of subspecies of the American black bear which scientific name is U. americanus Cinnamomum, the  brown bear is actually the only modern species to actually typically appear the truly brown. The winter fur is very thick and long, especially to the northern bear subspecies, and it can be able to reach 11 to 12 centimetres ( 4 inches to 5 inches ) at the withers. The winter hairs are pretty thin, yet they are rough to the touch. The summer fur is much shorter and sparser and its length and density varies geographically.

Cranial morphology and size

Adults have a massive, heavily built concave skulls, which are very large in proportion to the body. The bear’s forehead is pretty high, and it rises steeply. The projections of the bear’s skull are well developed when compared to those of the Asian black bears which its scientific name is Ursus thibetanus, the latter has a sagittal crests which doesn’t exceed more than around 19 to 20% of the total length of the skull, while the former have a sagittal crests comprising can be up to around 40 to 41% of the skulls length. Skull projections are usually more weakly developed for the females than for the males. The braincase is relatively small and elongated. There is a pretty great deal of the geographical variation in the skull, and presents itself chiefly in the dimensions. Grizzly bears for example. They tend to have a flatter profiles than the European bears, and also the coastal American brown bears too. The skull lengths of the Russian brown bears tend to be around 31.5 centimetres to around 45.5 centimetres ( 12.4 to 17.9 in inches ) for the males, while for the females it tends to be around 27.5 centimetres to 39.7 centimetres ( 10.8 to 15.6 in inches ) for the females. The width of the zygomatic arches for the males are around 17.5 to 27.7 centimetres ( 6.9 inches to 11 inches ), and for the females its around 14.7 to 24.7 centimetres ( 5.8 to 9.7 inches ) for the females. Brown bears can also have some very powerful teeth, as the incisors are relatively big and their canine teeth are very large, while the lower ones being strongly curved. The first three molars of the upper jaw are pretty underdeveloped and the single crowned with one root. The second upper molar is smaller than the other ones and is usually absents for the adults. It is usually lost at an early age for them, which leaving no trace of the alveolus in the jaw. The first three molars of the lower jaw are very weak too, and they are often lost at an early age too. The teeth of the brown bears can reflect their dietary plasticity and are broadly similar to the other types of bears, excluding the two most herbivorous living bears, the giant panda which its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca and the spectacled bear which that type of bear scientific name is called Tremarctos ornatus, which have a blunt, small premolars ( which are ideal for grinding down their fibrous plants ) compared to the jagged premolars of the ursid bears that at least seasonally often rely on the flesh as a food source. The teeth are reliably larger than the American black bears, but they are average smaller in molar length than the polar bears. Brown bears have the broadest skull of any type of extant ursine bear; only the aforementioned most herbivorous living bears exceed them in the relative breadth of the skull. In which another extant of the ursine bear, the sloth bear ( which its scientific name is Melursus ursinus ), has a proportionately longer skull than the brown bear and it can be able to match the skull length of even a large brown bear subtypes, presumably as an aid for foraging heavily on insect colonies for which a long muzzle is helpful as an evolved feature in several unrelated types of mammalian groups.

Claws and feet

The brown bears have a very large and curved claws, to those present on the forelimb being longer than those on the hind limbs. They may reach from around 5 cm up to 6 cm ( 2 in up to 2.4 in ) and they may measure from 7 cm to around 10 cm ( 2.8 in to 3.9 in ) along the curve. They are generally dark with a light tip, and with some forms which they have completely light claws. Brown bears claws are actually longer and straighter than the American black bears claws ( American black bears scientific name is Ursus americanus ). The claws are blunt, while those of a black bear are sharp. Due to their claw type structure, in addition to the bear excessive weight, the adult brown bears cannot typically climb trees as well both species of the black bear too, as if they were a small bear which they would be able to climb the trees, although in some rare cases the adult female brown bears have actually been seen in the trees.

 The claws of a polar bear are also quite different, in which the polar bear claws are notably shorter but have a broader with a stronger curve and has a sharper point, which presumably both as an aid to travelling over ice ( sometimes nearly vertically ) and procuring active prey. The paws of the brown bear are quite large. The rear feet of an adult bear has been found to measure from around 21 cm to around 36 cm ( 8.3 inches to 14.2 inches ) long, while the forefeet tend to measure about 40% less in length. All four feet in average sized brown bears average length tend to be 17.5 cm to 20 cm ( 6.9 inches to 7.9 inches ) in width. In the large coastal or the Kodiak bear males, the hindfoot can be able to measure up to 40 cm ( 16 inches ) in length, and then 28.5 cm ( 11.2 inches ) in width, while the outsized Kodiak bears are confirmed having measurements up to a crazy  46 cm ( 18 inches ) along their rear foot. Brown bears also are the only extant bears with a hump located at the top of their shoulders, in which is made entirely from just muscle, this feature having developed presumably for imparting more force in digging, which is a habitual during the foraging for most of the bears of the species and they are also used heavily in den construction prior to hibernation time. The brown bear’s strength has also been measured / estimated around 2.5 times up to 5 times of the strength of a human!

 

Distribution and habitat

The brown bears were once native to the Europe, most of Asia, the Atlas Mountains of Africa, and also, North America, but currently right now they are extirpated in some areas, and their population have greatly decreased in other type of areas. Currently there are an estimation of around 200,000 brown bears currently left in the world. The largest population of brown bears are currently in Russia with a population of 120,000 brown bears over there, then after that United States with 32,500 brown bears, and then Canada with around 25,000 brown bears. Brown bears live in the areas such as: Alaska, east through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south through the British Columbia and through the western half of Alberta. The current Alaskan population is estimated to be around 32,000 healthy individuals. While in the lower 48 states, they are repopulating slowly, but steadily along the Rockies and the western Great Plains.

In Europe, during the time of 2010, there were around 14,000 brown bears in ten fragmented populations, from Spain ( estimated at only 20 to 25 animals in the Pyrenees in 2010, in a range shared between Spain, France, and also Andorra, and some 210 animals in Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia and Leon, in the Pico’s de Europa and the adjacent areas in 2013 ) in the west, to Russia in the east, and from Sweden and Finland to the north of Romania ( 5000 to 6000 ), Bulgaria ( 900 to 1200 ), Slovakia ( with about 600 to around 800 animals ), Slovenia ( 500 to 700 animals ), and t hen Greece ( with Karamanlidis et al. 2015 which is estimated to be around >450 animals ) in the south.

In Asia, brown bears are usually found primarily throughout Russia, thence more spottily southwest to parts of the Middle East, including almost all of the parts of Kurdistan, to as far south as the south western Iran, and to the south east in the North east China. Brown bears can also be found in the western China, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and also India. Surprisingly Brown bears can also be found on a Japanese island of Hokkaido, in which holds the largest number of “no”" Russian brown bears in the eastern Asia which is estimated to be around 2,000 to 3,000 animals.

This species inhabits the broadest range of habitats of any other living bear species. They also seem to have no altitudinal preferences and they have been recorded from sea level to an elevation of all the way to 5,000 meters ( 16,000 feet ) ( the latter in the Himalayas ). In most of their range, the brown bears generally seem to prefer semi open country, with a scattering of vegetation which allows them to be able to have a resting spot during the day time. However, they have also been recorded as inhabiting every other variety of the northern temperate forest known to occur.

Conservation status

While the brown bear’s range has shrunk down and it faced the brown bears possibly a local extinctions, it still remains as a Least concern species by the IUCN, because of its population still being around 200,000. In 2012, the brown bear and the American black bear were the only bear species which weren’t classified as threatened by the IUCN. However, the California grizzly bear, Ungava brown bear, Atlas bear and also the Mexican grizzly bear, as well as the other brown bear populations located in the Pacific Northwest, were actually hunted all the way to extinction during the 19th and early 20^th centuries time and many other parts of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered. The Syrian brown bear ( which its scientific name is the Ursus arctos syriacus ) is a very rare type of bear and it has been extirpated from more than half of its historic range. One of the small body bear subspecies are the Himalayan brown bear ( and this bear scientific name is Ursus arctos isabellinus ), is very critically endangered, which it only occupies around only 2% of its former range and it has been threatened by the uncontrolled poaching for its body parts. The Marsican brown bear is another bear located in Italy is also believed to have a population of a tiny 50 to 60 bears only.

 

Behaviour and life history

The brown bear is also often described as a nocturnal animal. However, it does frequently seem to peak in activity during the money and the early evening hours. Studies have been done and they were able to show that the activity throughout the range can occur at nearly any time even if its night or day, with bears who dwell in areas with more extensive human contact being more likely to be a fully nocturnal animal. Furthermore, yearling, and newly independent bears are actually more likely to be more active diurnally and many adult bears in low disturbance areas are largely crepuscular. In summer and through autumn, a brown bear can be able to double its weight from spring, which they are able to gain up to 180 kg ( or 400 lb ) of fat, on which it relies on the fat that they have been able to gain between the time to survive on threw the winter times. Although they are not full hibernators and they can be awoken very easily, both genders like to den in a protected spot during the winter months. Hibernation dens may also consist of any spot that can provide cover from the elements that can accommodate their bodies, such as a cave, crevice, cavernous tree roots, or hollow logs.

Brown bears also have one of the largest brains of any other extant carnivoran relative to their body size and they have also been shown to engage in tool use ( for example: using a barnacle covered rock to scratch its neck ), which requires advanced cognitive abilities. This species is mostly solitary, although the bears may gather up in large amounts at a major food sources ( for example: opened up garbage dumps or rivers which hold a lot of salmons ) and to also form a social hierarchies based on its age and size. Adult male bears are also pretty aggressive and they are avoided by adolescent and subadult males, both at concentrated feeding opportunities and chance encounters. Female bears with cubs rival adult males in aggression and are much more intolerant of other types of bears than just single females. Young adolescent males tend to be less aggressive, and they have been observed in nonantagonistic interactions between each other. Dominance between the bears is asserted by making a frontal orientation, by showing off their canines, muzzle twisting and neck stretching to which a subordinate will respond with a lateral orientation, by turning away and dropping the head and by sitting or lying down. During combat, the bears mainly uses their paws to be able to strike their opponents in their chests or the shoulders and they might bite the head or neck too.

Communication

( In short ) The types of bear faces are: Relaxed face, relaxed open mouth face, alert face, tense closed mouth face, puckered lip face, jaw gape face, and the biting face.

Several different facial expression have been documented on the brown bears. One of the bears facial expression  is called the “ relaxed face “. The relaxed face is made in everyday activities, and it has the bear ears pointed to the sides and the mouth closed or slackly opened. During social play, the bears make the “ relaxed open mouth face “ in which the mouth is opened, and their lips are upper curled and hanging lower lip, and the ears alert and shifting. When the bears look at another animal from a distance, bears like to  make a face called the “ alert face “ as the ears are cocked in and alerted too, their eyes are also wide open but the mouth is closed or open but very slightly. The “ tense closed mouth face “ is made with firstly the ears laid back and the mouth closed and occurs when the bear feels threatened. When they are approached by another animal, the bear usually makes a “ puckered lip face ‘ with a protruding upper lip and ears which go from cocked in and alert when at a certain distance away to laid back when closer or when retreating. The “ jaw gape face “ is when the bear has their mouth open and with their lower canines being visible and hanging lips too. While the “ biting face “ is similar to the “ relaxed open mouth face “ except that the bear ears flattened instead of their ears being alerted and also the eyes are wide enough to expose the bears sclera. Both the “ jaw gape face “ and the biting face “ are made in aggression and bears switch between them.

Here are some extras. Here is some audio bears here:

File:Yellowstone sound library - Grizzly Bear Eating - 003.mp3 - Wikipedia

File:Yellowstone sound library - Grizzly Bear Eating - 002.mp3 - Wikipedia

Brown bears also produced other various vocalizations. Huffing occurs when the animal is tense while woofing is made when alarmed. Both of the sounds are produced by exhalations though huffing is harsher and is made continuously ( two per second ). Growls and roars are made in aggression. Growling is pretty harsh and guttural and can range from just a simple grr to a rumble. A rumbling growl can also escalate into a roar when the bear is charging. Roaring is also described as “ thunderous “ and it can travel up to 2 km ( 1.2 mi ). Mothers are cub wanting a physical contact will bawl, which is heard as a Waugh! Waugh

 

Home ranges

Brown bears usually occur over a vast home ranges; however, they are not highly territorial. Several adult bears mostly roam freely throughout over the same vicinity without issues, unless rights to a fertile female or food sources are being contested. The male brown bears always cover more area than the female brown bear. Even though their lack of traditional territorial behaviour, the adult male bears can always seem to have a “ personal zone “ in which other bears are not tolerated if they are seen. The males always like to wander around further more than the females, mostly because of the increasing access to females and food sources, while the female bears are advantaged by smaller territories in part since it decreases the likelihood of encounters with male bears who may endanger their cubs. In the areas where the food is abundant and concentrated, locations such as the coastal Alaska, home ranges for females are up to 24 km ( squared ) (9.3 sq. mi) while for the male bears it is up to 89 km ( 34 sq. mi ). Similarly, in British Columbia, the female and male brown bear travels relatively compact home ranges of 115 km ( 44 sq. mi ) and 318 km ( 123 sq. mi ). In the Yellowstone National Park, the home ranges for the female brown bear can range up to 281 km ( 108 sq. mi ). While for the males, their home ranges up to an insane 874 km ( 337 sq. mi ). The highest range of home range was actually in Romania. The record was set by the adult males at a whopping 3,143 km ( 1214 sq. mi ). In the central Arctic of Canada, where the food sources are quite sparse, their home range can range up to 2,434 km ( 940 sq. mi ) for the females, while for the males it goes up to a whopping 8,171 km ( 3,155 sq. mi).

A study was actually done and it was a male bear which inherited the Y chromosome DNA sequence and it was found that the brown bears, for over the past few 10,000 years, they have shown a strong male biased dispersal. The study surprisingly found out that the similar Y chromosomes in the brown bear populations was as far apart as Norway and the coastal of Alaska, which  indicates the extensive gene flow across the Eurasia and North America. Notably this contracts with the genetics signals from female inherited mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA ), where the brown bears of different geographic regions typically show strong differences inside of their mtDNA, which  is a result of female philopatry.

Reproduction

The mating seasons time is from around mid-May to around early July, and usually later and further north that is where the bears are found. Being serially monogamous, the brown bears still remain with the same mate from a couple days to a couple weeks. Outside of this narrow time frame, the adult male and female brown bears shows no actual sexual interest in each other. The females mature sexually is between the age of four and eight years old, with an average age at sexual maturity around 5.2 to 5.5 years old, while for the male’s mate are about a year later on average, when they become large and strong enough to be able to successfully compete with the other males for mating rights. The males will also try to mate with as many females as they can, they are usually successful with around 2 females in a span of one to three weeks. The adult female brown bears are similarly promiscuous, mating with up to four, and at very rare cases, possibly up to eight. Females come into oestrus on average every three to four years with a full range of around 2.4 years to 5.7 years. The urine markings of a female oestrus can even attract the male brown bears up to males with their scent. Paternity DNA tests have been done and it has been able to show that littermates do not share the same father in up to 29% of the litters. Dominant males may also try to sequester a female for her entire oestrus period of approximately two weeks, but they are usually unable to retain her for the entire time. Copulation is vigorous and prolonged so that they are able to last up to an hour, although the mean time is around 23 minutes to 24 minutes.

Another fact about males is that they don’t take part on raising their cubs, the parenting is left entirely for the female bear to handle. Through the process of delayed implantation, a females fertilized egg divides and floats freely inside of the uterus for about six months. During the winter dormancy, the fetus is attached to the uterine wall and once then the cubs will be born eight weeks later during when the mother is sleeping. If the mother does not gain enough weight to survive through the winter while she is gestating, the embryo does not implant and is instead reabsorbed into the body.

There have also been cases in which the female brown bear has been able to give birth to as many as six cubs, although the average litter size is usually one to three, with more than four cubs is considered as uncommon. There are many records of female sometimes adopting stray cubs too, or even trading or kidnapping cubs when they emerge from hibernation ( a large female may claim cubs away from a smaller one ). The older and larger females within population tend to give birth to larger litters. The size of the bears litter can also depends on factors such as its geographic location and its food supply around the area. At birth the cubs are born blind, toothless and also hairless and weigh a tiny 350 to 510 grams (0.77 lb - 1.12 lb), again reportedly based on the age and condition of the mother. They also feed on their mother’s milk until the spring time or even the early summer, depending on their climate conditions. Around this time, the cubs start gaining weight and now weighs 7 kg to 9 kg ( 15 lb to 20 lb ) and they have now developed enough to follow her over the long distances and begin to forage for solid food.

The cubs are also fully dependant on the mother and a close bond between the mother and her cubs are formed. During the cubs dependency stage, the cubs learn ( because they don’t inherit the survival techniques immediately at birth ) survival techniques, such as which food has the highest nutritional value and also where to be able to locate the food; how to hunt, fish and also how to defend themselves. They also learn where, and how to make their den. Increased brain size in large carnivores has been positively linked depending on some factors of the bear as if the bear is in solitary, as is the brown bear, or raises their offspring communally, which the female brown bear has a relatively large, well developed brains, presumably key in teaching behaviours. The cubs also remain with their mother for an average of 2.5 years in North America, and uncommonly the cubs being independent as early as 1.5 years old or as late as 4.5 years old. The stage which the independence is attained may generally be earlier in some parts of Eurasia, as the latest date which the mother and cubs were together was 2.3 years, and most of the families separated in just under two years. These information was gathered up from a study done from Hokkaido and in Sweden most cubs were on their own at still being yearlings. Brown bears also practice infanticide, as an adult male bear may try to kill the cubs of another. When an adult male brown bear kills a cub, it is usually because he is trying to bring the female into oestrus, as she will enter that state within two to four days after the death of her cubs. If there are any dangers, the cubs likes to flee up a tree to stay protected, while the mother protects her cub below attacking what’s dangering them. A mother bear are mostly successful on defending what’s dangering them like a strange male bear, even though the male bear may be twice as heavy as she, although there are some cases in which the mother of the cubs dies during face off like these.

Dietary habits

The brown bear diet is one of the most omnivorous animals in the world and it has been recorded as they will consume the greatest variety of foods of any bear. Throughout their life this species is regularly curious about the potential of eating virtually any type of organism or object they encounter. Food that is both abundant and easily accessed or caught is preferred. Their jaw structured has changed and evolved over time to fit their dietary habits. Their diet can also vary enormously throughout their differing areas based on opportunity.

Despite the brown bears reputation, most of the brown bears aren’t highly carnivorous, as they derive up to 90% of their dietary food energy from just vegetables. They often like to feed on a vary amount of plant life, which includes berries, grasses, flowers, acorns, pine cones, and also fungi too like to mushrooms you see growing which contains vitamins. Among all of the bears, the brown bears have some insane claws which the others don’t have, which allow them to dig for tough foods such as roots, bulbs, and shoots. They also use their long, strong claws to dig out earth to reach the roots and their powerful jaw to be able to bite through them easily. In spring, winter provided carrion, grasses, shoots, sedges, moss, and also forbs are the main dietary for brown bears internationally. For bears, the fruits and berries have become increasingly important during the summer and early autumn time. The roots and bulbs have become a critical food during autumn time for some inland bear populations if the fruit crops rate are low / poor.

They will also commonly consume animal matter, which during the summer and autumn time may regularly be in the form of eating insects like, larvae, grubs, and also beehives. Bears in the Yellowstone park eat an enormous amount of months during the summer time, and sometimes they are able to eat as much as 40,000 army cutworm moths in just a single day, and they may even derive half of their annual food energy from those insects. Brown bears living near the coastal regions will regularly eat crabs and clams because they are near the ocean. In Alaska, the bears near the coastal over there which go to the beaches of estuaries and regularly dig over there to search for clams. This species may eat birds and their eggs, including almost entirely ground or rock nesting species. The diet of them may be supplemented by the rodents or something similar like small mammals, which includes marmots, ground squirrels, mice, rats, lemmings, and voles. With particular regularity, bears in the Denali National Park will wait at the burrows of the Arctic ground squirrels hoping that they are able to find some of the ground squirrels which weighs around             1 kg ( 2.2 lb ).

In the Kamchatka peninsula and other several parts of the coastal areas in Alaska, the brown bears will mostly feed on salmon, whose nutrition and abundance explain the enormous size of the bears in those areas. The fishing techniques which the bears use is very well documented. They often congregate around the falls when the salmon fish are forced to breach the water, and if the salmon goes up near them, they will try to catch the fish mid-air ( they mainly catch the salmon with their mouths ). They will also wade into the shallow water, hoping that they will catch a salmon fish with their claws there. When the bears eat the fish, they don’t eat all of the parts of the fish, bears at the peak of spawning when there is a glut of fish to feed on, they actually only eat he most nutrious parts of the salmons which includes the eggs and the head and once then they leave the rest of the carcass to the scavengers, which can include red foxes, bald eagles, common ravens, and gulls. Despite their normally solitary habits, the brown bears will gather in rather close in numbers at good spawning sites. When there is a large prime fishing spots for the bears. The largest and most powerful males will try to claim that prime fishing spot and they sometimes even fight over the rights to that fishing spot too.

Beyond the regular predation of salmon, most of the brown bears are actually not particularly active predators. While perhaps most of the bears of the species will charge at a large prey at one point in their lives and most eat carrion, many of the predation attempts will start off with the bear clumsily and half-heartedly pursuing the prey and end with the prey escaping alive. While on the other hand, some of the brown bears are quite self-assured predators who habitually pursue and will catch large prey items. Such amount of the bears are usually taught on how to hunt by their mothers from an early age. The large mammals which the bears prey on can include various ungulate species such as elk, moose, caribou, muskoxen, and also the wild boar. When brown bears attack these large animals, they usually target the young ones or the infirm ones, as they are slower, weaker, and just have less experience than the fully grown up one. Typically when the bears go hunting ( especially with young prey ), the bears like to pin its prey onto the ground and then immediately tears and eats its alive. It will also bite or swipe some prey to stun it enough and knock it over for consumption.

To pick out the young or infirm individuals, the bears will first charge at the herds so the slower moving and more vulnerable individuals will be made apparent. The brown bears may also ambush young animals by finding them with their scent. When emerging  from hibernation, the brown bears, whose broad paws allow them to walk over most like ice and snow and may pursue large prey such as moose whose hooves cannot support them on encrusted snow. Similarly, predatory attacks on large preys sometimes occur at riverbeds, which it is more difficult for the prey specimen to run away due to the ground being muddy or slippery soil. And on rare occasions, while they confront a fully grown, dangerous prey, the bears will kill them by hitting them with their powerful forearms, which can break their necks and backs of large creatures such as an adult moos and an adult bison. They will also feed on the carrion, and use their size to intimidate an other predators, such as wolves, cougars, tigers, and the American black bears from their kills. The carrion is especially important in the early spring times ( which is when the bears are emerging from their hibernation ), much of it comprising winter killed big game. Cannibalism of the bears is not unheard of, though predation is not normally believed to be the primary motivation when the brown bears attack each other.

When they are forced to live in close proximity with humans and their domesticated animals, the bears may potentially predate any type of domestic animal. Among these, domestic cattle are sometimes exploited as prey. Usually, the cattle are bitten on the neck, back, or the head and then the abdominal cavity is opened for eating. Plants and fruit farmed by humans are readily consumed as well, which includes corn, wheat, sorghum, melons and any form of berries. They will also feed at domestic bee yards, readily consuming both the honey the bee creates and the brood ( grubs and pupae ) of the honey bee colony. Human foods and human trash or refuse is eaten when its possible. When an open garbage dump was kept in Yellowstone, brown bears were one of the most voracious and regular scavengers. The dump was closed further on after both the brown bear and American black bears came to associate humans with food and lost their natural fear of them.

 

Interspecific predatory relationships

Adult bears are generally immune to the predatory attacks except from tigers and the other types of bears. The Siberian tigers prefer preying on young Ussuri brown bears, the Siberian tigers may also take the life of the small adult female brown bears outside of the Ussuri brown bears den,  generally when lethargic from hibernation. Out of the 44 recorded encounters between the two predators, 20 of them resulted in confrontations, in 50% of these, the bears were killed, in 27% the tigers were killed, and 23% f the cases ended with both of the animals surviving and parting ways. Some of the bears emerging from hibernation, seek out tigers in order to steal their kills. Some of the large brown bears may actually benefit from the tiger’s presence by appropriating tiger kills that the bears my not be able to successfully hunt themselves and follow the tiger trails. During the winters of 1970 to 1973, Yudakov and Nikolaev were able to record 1 case of the brown bears showing no fear of the tigers and another case of brown bears changing his path upon finding out a tiger tracks. Other researchers have observed why the brown bears have been following the tiger tracks for various of reasons.

Brown bears regularly intimidate the wolves to drive them away from the bears kills. In the Yellowstone National Park, bears pirate wolf kills so often, The Yellowstone’s Wolf Project director Doug Smith wrote down, “ It’s not a matter of if the bears will come calling after a kill, but when.” Despite the high animosity between the two species, most confrontations at kill sites or large carcasses end without bloodshed on either side. Though the conflict over carcasses is pretty common, on some rare occasions, the two predators may tolerate each other on the same kill. Although to date, there is a single case of a fully grown wolves being killed by a grizzly bear. Given the opportunity, however both of the species will prey on the other cubs. Conclusively,  the individual power of the bear against the collective strength of the wolf pack is a result in a long battle for kills or domination.

In some areas, the grizzly bears also regularly displace cougars from their kills. Cougars kills small bear cubs on some rare occasions, but there was one report of a bear killing a cougar of a unknown age and condition between 1993 and 1996. The smaller carnivorous animals, which includes coyotes, wolverines, lynxes, and any other sympatric carnivores or raptorial birds, are dominated by the grizzly bears and they generally avoid direct interactions with them, unless they attempt to steal scraps of food. However the wolverines have been persistent enough to fend off a grizzly bear as much as ten times their weight off a kill. But there has been one record of a golden eagle preying on a brown bear cub.

Brown bears usually dominate the other bear species in areas where the brown bears coexist. Due to their small size, the American black bears are at a competitive disadvantage to the grizzly bears in the open, unforested areas. Although the displacement of black bears by grizzly bears has been documented before, the actual interspecific killing of black bears by the grizzly bears has only occasionally been reported. Confrontation is mostly avoided because of the black bear’s diurnal habits and preference for the heavily forested areas, as opposed to the grizzly’s bear largely nocturnal habits and preference for the open space. Brown bears may also kill Asian black bears, though the latter species probably largely avoids conflict with the brown bears, due to the similar habits and habitat preferences to the American black species. They will also eat the fruit dropped by the Asian black bears from its trees, as they themselves are too large and cumbersome to climb. Improbably, in the Himalayas Brown bears are reportedly intimidated by the Asian black bears in confrontations.

There has also been a recent increase in interactions between the 2 bears of brown bears and polar bears, it is theorized that the reason is because of climate change. The brown bears and grizzly bears have been recently seen moving increasingly moving northward into the territories formerly claimed by the polar bears. They also tend to dominate the polar bears in dispute over carcasses, and dead polar bear cubs have been found inside of the brown bear dens.

Longevity and mortality

The brown bear has a naturally long life. Wild females have also been observed to reproducing up to 28 years of age, which is also the oldest known age for reproduction of any ursid I the wild. The peak reproductive age for the females ranges from around four years old to 20 years old. The lifespan of both genders of the brown bears within the minimally hunted populations is estimated to be around 25 years old. The oldest wild brown bear on record was nearly 37 years old. While the oldest recorded female in captivity was nearly 40 years old, while males in captivity have been verified to live up to 47 years old, with one of the captive male possibly attaining 50 years old.

While the male bears potentially can live longer in captivity than females, female grizzly bears have a greater annual survival rate than the males within the wild population per which was founded by a study done in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Annual mortality rate for bears of any age is estimated to be 10% in most protected areas, however, the average annual mortality rate rises to be an estimated 38% in hunted populations. Around 13% to 44% of cubs die within just the first year even in the well protected areas. Mortality rates of 75 – 100% among the cubs of any given year and not uncommon. Beyond the predation by the large predators which includes wolves, Siberian tigers, and other brown bears, starvation and other accidents can also claim the lives of cubs. Studies have been done which indicates that the most prevalent source of mortality for the first year cubs is due to malnutrition. By the second and third years of the cub’s life, the annual mortality rate among the cubs in the care of their mothers drop down to 10 – 15%.

Even in populations living in protected areas, humans are still the most cause of the mortality for the brown bears. The largest amount of legalized brown bear hunting occurs in Canada, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, and Alaska. Hunting is unregulated in many different areas within the range of the brown bear. Even parts where hunting is legally permitted, most of the biologists feel that the numbers hunted are pretty excessive considering the low reproduction rate and spare distribution of the species / the brown bears. Brown bears can also die from collisions like with an automobiles, cars, etc... Which is a significant cause of mortality in the United States and Europe too.

Relationship with Humans

Conflicts between the bear and humans

Brown bears usually like to avoid areas where there are extensive development or urbanization has occurred, unlike the smaller, more inoffensive American black bear which they can adapt to the peri urban regions. Under many circumstances, extensive human development may make the brown bears to alter and find a new place to make their home far away on the human development areas. High road densities ( both paved and gravel roads ) are often associated with higher mortality, habitat, avoidance and lower bear density. However, brown bears are able to easily lose their natural cautiousness upon being attracted to human created food sources, for example like garbage dumps, litter bins, and dumpsters. Brown bears may even venture into human dwellings or barns in search of food as humans encroach or bears habitats. In other different areas, such places like Alaska, the dumps may continue to be an attraction for the brown bears. In different parts of their distribution, the brown bears sometimes will kill and eat domesticated animals.

The saying that “A fed bear is a dead bear” has come into the use to popularize the idea that if a bear is allowed to scavenge threw human garbage, such as the trash cans and campers backpacks, pet food, or other different food sources that can draw the bears into contact with humans, it can result in the bear’s death. Results in a 2016 study showed that in the South Eastern British Columbian valley indicates that the areas where attractive bear food and concentrated human settlements overlap, human bear conflicts can create an ecological trap which results in a lower apparent survival rate for the brown bears, as well as attracting more bears and thereby it is causing the brown bear population to decline even more.

When brown bears come to associate with human activities with a “food reward”, they are likely to continue to become emboldened, the likelihood of human bear encounters increases, as they may return the same location despite relocation. Relocation of the bear has actually been used to separate the bear from the human environment, but it does not address the problem that the bear’s newly learned association of humans with food or the environmental situations which created the human habituated bear. “ Placing a bear into a habitat used by other bears may lead to competition and social conflict, and it could result into injury or death of the less dominant bear. “ The Yellowstone National Park, a reserve located in the western part of the United States, contains prime habitat for the grizzly bears ( which its scientific name is Ursus arctos horribillis ) and due to its enormous number of visitors, the human bear encounters are common for them. The scenic beauty of the area had led to an influx of people moving into the area. In addition to it, because there are so many bear relocations to the same remote areas of Yellowstone, and because of the male bears tend to dominate the centre of the relocation zone, the female bears tend to be pushed to the boundaries of the region and even beyond. As a result of this, a large proportion of repeat offenders, bears that are killed for the public safety, are females. This creates a further depressive effect on an already endangered subspecies / the brown bear / grizzly bear. The grizzly bear is officially considered as a “ Threatened “ animal in the U.S. Although the problem mainly regards the grizzly bears, these types of issues can also affect the other types of brown bears as well.

In Europe, part of the problem lies with the shepherds; as over the past two centuries, many sheep’s and goat herders have gradually abandoned the more traditional practice of using dogs to guard flocks, which have concurrently grown more larger. Typically, they allow the herds to graze freely over sizeable tracts of land. As the brown bears start to reclaim their parts of range, they may also eat live stocks such as sheep’s and goats which are relatively easy for the bear to kill. In some cases, the shepherds shoot the bear, thinking that their livelihood was under threat. Many of them are now better informed about the ample compensation available and will make a claim when they lose their live stock to a bear. Another issue in several different parts of their range inside of Europe is supplemental feeding stations where various kinds of animal carrion is offered upon, which are set up mainly in Scandinavia and the Eastern part of Europe to both support the locally threatened species and so the humans can go enjoy watching bears that may otherwise prove evasive. Despite that most of the stations were cautiously set in the remote areas far from human habitations, some brown bears in such areas have become conditioned to associate humans with food and become excessively bold “ problem bears “. Also, the supplemental feeding appears to cause no decrease in the livestock predation.

 

Bears encounters and attacks

Brown bears seldom attack humans on sight and usually avoid people. In Russia, there an estimation that 1 in 1,000 on foot encounters with the brown bears will result into an attack. However, they are pretty unpredictable in temperament, and they may feel free to attack if they are surprised by you or they feel threatened. There are an average of around two fatal attacks per year by the bears in North America. In Scandinavia ( Which is located at the northern Europe and is to include Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands ), it is very rare to die from a bear over there because ever since 1902 there have only been 4 known cases of people dying from the bears over there. The two most common causes for a bear to attack you are surprise and their curiosity. Some types of bears, for example the polar bears are more likely to attack you / other animals when they are searching for food, while American black bears are much less likely to attack. Despite their boldness and potential for predation if the bear is hungry, polar bears will rarely attacks the humans, mostly because the polar bear frequently encounters humans in the Arctic Sea. Aggressive behaviour in the brown bears are favoured by the numerous selection variables. The increase aggressiveness can also assists the female brown bears in, so they are better ensuring the survival of their young to reproductive age. The mothers of the brown bear defend their cubs as it is the most prone to attack, being responsible for about 70% of the brown bear caused human fatalities in North America.

Sows with the cubs can account for many attacks on humans by the brown bears in North America. The habituated or food conditioned bears can also be dangerous, as their long term exposure to humans causes the bears to lose their natural shyness and, in some cases, to associate the humans with food. Small parties of one to two people are more often attacked by the brown bears than the large groups, and with only one known case of an reported attack by a brown bear attacking on a group of six or more people. In that instance, it is mostly thought that it is due to surprise, but it could also be that the grizzly bear may not have realized that there were a lot more people than it saw. In the majority of attacks by the brown bear can result into injury, the brown bears will precede the attack with the bear Rowling or huffing sound. In contrast to the injuries caused by the American black bears are some injuries which are mostly minor injuries, while the brown bear attacks will mostly result into you into a more serious injury and, in some cases, even death.

The brown bears seems to confront the humans as they would as if they were fighting other bears: as they rise up on their hind legs, and they attempt to “ disarm “ they victims by biting and holding onto its lower jaw to avoid being bitten in turn. Due to the bears enormous physical strength, even a single bite of the bear or swipe can be deadly as in tigers, with some of the human victims having had their head completely crushed  by the bear bite. Most attacks usually occurs in the months of July, August, and September, which is also the time where the number of outdoor recreationalists, such as like hikers, or hunters are much higher. People who assert their presence through noises are tend to be less vulnerable, as they start to alert the bears to their presence. In direct confirmations, people who run are statistically more likely to be attacked by the bear than those who stand up to their ground. The violent encounters where humans come in contact with wild brown bears will usually only last a few minutes, though they can be prolonged if the victims are able to fight back. In Alberta ( A province located to the west of Canada ), there are two common behaviours by human hunters, imitating the calls of deer to attract them and carrying ungulate carcasses, seem to court aggressive behaviour and lead to a high rate of attack from the grizzly bears.

In Japan, there is a large brown bear which is nicknamed “ Kesagake “  ( kesa-style slasher ) “ made history because it is known for causing the worst brown bear attack in Japanese history at Tomamae, Hokkaido during numerous encounters during December 1915. The bears were able to kill seven people and wounded three other people ( with possible another tree previous fatalities to its credit ) before it being gunned down after a large scale beast hunt. Currently today, there is still a shrine at Rokusenasawa  (六線沢), which is where the event took place in memory of the victims of the unfortunate accident.

Within the Yellowstone National Park, there are injuries caused by grizzly bear attacks in developed area averaged approximately one per year during the 1930’s through out to the 1950’s, though it increased to four per year during the 1960’s. They then decreased to only one injury every two years during the 1970’s. Between 1980 and 2002, there have been a very low injury reports from bears as there have only been 2 human injured caused b the grizzly bears in a developed area. Although the grizzly attacks were rare in the backcountry before the 1970’s, the number of attacks have increased to an average of approximately on per year during the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s. In Alberta                ( Province located in Canada ), from 1960 to 1998, the number of attacks by the grizzly bears usually ended up in injury were nearly three times more common  than attacks ending in injury by the American b lack bears, despite the American black bear estimated to be 39 times more numerous in the province than the grizzly bear.

History of defence from bear

A study was done by the U.S. and Canadian researchers, and they found out that the bear spray were more effective at stopping an aggressive bear than if they had used guns, working in 92% of the studied incidents versus 67% for guns. The authorities recommend on carrying pepper spray while you are travelling in a bear country, however, carry two means of deterrent of one which is a large caliber gun, is also advised. Solid shotgun slugs, or three buckshot rounds, or a pistol which uses a .44 caliber bullet, or more is suggested if the heavy hunting rifle is not available. Guns still remain a viable, a last resort option to be used in defence of life from the aggressive brown bears in the wild. Too often, people do not carry a proper caliber weapon to neutralize the bear. According to the Alaska Science Center, they have found out that a 12 gauge shotgun with slugs have been the most effective weapon on the bears. So, because of that there have been fewer injuries as a result of only carrying lethal loads in the shotgun, as opposed to the deterrent rounds. The State of Alaska Defence of Life or Property ( DLP ) laws require one to report the kill to the authorities and salvage the hide, the skull, and claws. A page at the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources website offers information on about how to “ select a gun that will stop a bear ( 12 – gauge shotgun or .300 mag rifle )”.

Many Campers are often told to wear bright coloured red ribbons, bells, and to also carry whistles to ward off the bears away. They are also to look for grizzly bear dung in camping areas and to be careful to carry the bells and whistle in those types of areas. Grizzly bears dung is difficult to differentiate from the American black bear dung, as diet is in a  constant state of flux depending on the availability of the seasonal food items. If a bear is killed near a camp, the bear’s carcass must be adequately disposed of, which includes entrails and blood, if possible. If they fail to move away the carcass in time, it can often result into other bears and further exacerbating a bad situation. Moving camps immediately is another recommended method.

Culture

The brown bears are an often figure into the literature of the Europe and North America, in particular that which is written for children. For example, like the “ The Brown Bear of Norway “ is Scottish fairy tale telling the adventure of a girl who married a prince which soon magically turned into a bear and the girl managed to get him back into a human by the force of her love and after many trials and difficulties. Another really popular bear story is called the “ Goldilocks and the Three bears “, which is a story from England, the Three Bears are usually depicted as the brown bears. In a German Speaking countries, the children are often told about a fairy tale named “ Snow White and Rose Red “, the handsome prince in this tale has been transfigured into a brown bear. In the United States, many parents often read to their preschool age children the book “ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? “ To be able to teach them their colours and how they are associated with different types of animals.

The Russian bear is a common national personification for Russia ( as well as the former Soviet Union) , despite the country having no officially designated national animal. The brown bear is Finland’s National Animal.

The grizzly bear is the state animal for Montana ( A state located in the United States of America and is located in the North West and right below Alberta which is a province in Canada ). The California golden bear is the state animal for California. Both of the animals are subspecies of the brown bear, and the species was extirpated from the latter state.

The coat of arms of Madrid ( Located in the Spain and is around the center of Spain ) depicts of a bear reaching up into a madrono or a strawberry tree to eat some of its fruit, where as the Swiss city of Bern’s coat of arms also depicts a bear and the city’s name is popularly though to derive from the German word of bear. The brown bear is also depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 5 kunda coin, minted since 1993 which right now is 30 years ago!

The Bundesliga club Bayern Munich has a brown bear mascot which is named “ Berni “. The Chicago National Football League ( Or for short the NFL ) franchise is named the Bears. In this context, no differentiation between the American back bear and the brown bears is needed. The school mascot for the Bob Jones University, Brown University, Cornell University, George Fox University, the University of Alberta, the University of California, Berkely, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Riverside, and also the numerous amount of American high schools is the brown bear.

In the town of Prats de Mollo, which is located at the South part of France, French Catalonia, a “ bear festival “ ( festa de l’os ) is celebrated every year at the beginning of spring, in which the locals will dress up as bears, cover themselves with soot or coal and il and “ attack “ the on lookers, which they will attempt to get everyone dirty as possible. The festival will end with the ball de l’os (bear dance).

 Source: Brown bear - Wikipedia

 

 

Now I will be talking about other different types of species of the brown bear.

California Grizzly Bear

1: California Grizzly Bear

2: Taxonomy

3: Distribution and habitat

4: Relationship with humans

4.1: European contact

4.2: Extinction

4.3: Reintroduction

4.4: Symbolism

 

The California grizzly bear which scientific name is Ursus arctos californicus is an extinct population / subspecies of the brown bear, it was generally known ( together with other North American brown bear populations ) as the grizzly bear. “Grizzly” could have also meant as “ grizzled ” that is, with golden and grey tips of the hair – or “ fear inspiring “ (as a phonetic spelling of “ grisly “). Nonetheless, after a study which was carefully done by a naturalist George Ord which was formally classified it in 1815 – not for its hair, but either for its character – as Ursus horribilis                             (“ terrifying bear ”). Genetically, the North American brown bears are closely related; in size and colouring, the California grizzly bear was also much like the Kodiak bear ( which is also the next bear I am going to type about ) of the southern coast of Alaska. In California, it was particularly admired for its beauty, size, and also its strength. The grizzly become a symbol of the Bear Flag Republic, a moniker that was attached to the short lived attempt by a group of U.S. settlers to break away from Mexico in 1846. Soon later, this rebel flag became the basis for the state flag of California, and then soon California was known as the “ Bear State “.

 

Taxonomy

In 1953 researcher stated that, “The specific status of the North American brown bears ( or known as the grizzly bears ) is one of the most complex problems of mammalian taxonomy. The difficult stems directly from the work of Merriam ( 1918 ), who concluded that there are 86 different forms of grizzlies ( and also brown bears ) in North America.”

The North American brown bears were taxonomically grouped as a species which were apart from the other bear species, until a DNA testing was able to reveal that they should properly be group in the same group of species as the other brown bears. The Grizzlies in California had been classified by Merriam into many subspecies, but the only genetically anomalous grouping in North America is the ABC Islands Bears.

 

                                                              Distribution and habitat

European contact

Yes, there was a time where the Europeans came in contact with the California Grizzly Bear. The first recorded encounters of the Europeans and the California Grizzly bear was found in a diaries kept by several members of the 1769 Portola Expedition, the first European land exploration of what is now the state of California. Several place names that include the Spanish word for bear ( oso ) trace their origins back to that first overland expedition ( e.g. Los Osos ). As the settled frontier of New Spain was extended northward, settlers began to populate California and establish large cattle herds as the main industry. The rancher’s domesticated livestock were easy preys for the grizzly bears which were roaming freely across the state. By eating their livelihood and scaring them, the grizzlies became an enemy for the francheros. Vaqueros hunted the grizzlies, often roping and capturing the bear to be pitted against the other animals in public battles.

The California grizzly was not just your average bear, it was an enormous bear. Father Pedro Font, an early missionary described the local grizzly bears as “ He was horrible, fierce, large, and fat. “ In the 1800’s, multiple newspaper accounts came out and mentioned that the bears weighed well over 1,000 pounds / 450 kg. The hind foot of one of the particular adult male bear was measured at a whopping 12 inches / 30 cm long and it was 8 inches / 20 cm wide, and its claws were often 2 inches / 5.1 cm wide by 3.5 inches / 8.9 cm long. In 1866, there was a reported that a grizzly bear which was described as weighing as much as 2,200 pounds / 1,000 kg was killed in what is present day Valley Center, California. The incident was recalled after 66 years in 1932 by Catherine E. Lovett Smith, who is one of the witness the bear’s killing on her family’s ranch when she was just six years old. If the measurements which were mentioned are accurate, this particular bear would become the biggest bear ever found in California and, indeed one of the largest specimens of any bear species ever recorded. (There have been other sources which confirm Lovett Smith’s account of the bear, but differs as to its exact size.) Her telling of that bear is part of the oral history of “ Bear valley “, the original name for the Valley Center. The bear ranged as far south as the Big Sur region of central California. Frank Post, was born in 1859 on the Soberanes Ranch on Big Sur, remembered when his family lived at Soberanes Creek, during the American Civil war – and the “Great Sur Bears”.

 

Extinction

Here is how the Californian Grizzly Bear became extinct.

During the late 1700’s Spanish ranchers decided to place a poisoned “bait ball “ made out of suet or swine entrails filled with a lethal dose of strychnine which they hung from the branches of a tree within the reach of the bear but out of the reach of the dogs and children and more. Mexican settlers were able to capture the bears for bear and bull fights and they also sold its skin for 6 to 10 peso to the trading ships. Bear Trap Canyon located near Bixby Creek was one of their favourite spots for trapping the grizzly bears along the central California coast too.

Bear baiting events were flourished as a popular spectacles during the 19^th century California. Bloody fights that pitted bear against bulls often inspired betting as to whether if the bear or the bull would win. One persistently popular, but false phrase origin story related to these fights stems from famous 19^th century newspaper man Horace Greeley. While visiting California Greely Allegedly witnessed such a fight, and supposedly gave the modern stock market its” bear “ and “ bull “ nicknames based on the fighting styles of the two animals / bear and bull: the bears swipes downward while instead the bull hooks upward. In truth, the phrase’s origins predate Greely’s 1895 journey to California by at least 100 years, but the myth of the California connection persists.

The Monterey County Herald noted on July 4^th, 1874:

“Last Monday, Captain A. Smith, who resides about ten miles from town, in the Carmel Valley, succeeded in poisoning a large grizzly bear. Bruin had been annoying the neighbourhood by destroying cattle, etc., for several years past, and all efforts to exterminate him seem futile. In some manner, however, he was induced partake of that “ cold pizen “ the captain had prepared for h is special benefit. He is not likely to repeat his experiment.”

The European settlers decided to put on bounties on the bears who had regularly preyed on livestock until the early 20^th century. Absolom ( Rocky ) Beasley hunted grizzly bears through out the area of Santa Lucia Mountains and they have claimed to kill 139 bears in his lifetime. Noted California mountain man Seth Kinman claimed to shot over 800 grizzly bears in just a 20 year time period in the areas surrounding present day Humboldt County. One prospector in Southern California, William F. Holcomb ( which he is nicknamed as the” Grizzly Bill “ Holcomb ), was particularly well known for hunting down grizzly bears in what is now San Bernardino Country. During September 1897, in the mountains between Inwood, and Mt. Lassen, Shasta Country, A 21 year old man named Elias Weigart and his dog encountered a huge California grizzly which its front track measured 11 inches and the rear, 19. The bear later on died after Weigart emptied his Winchester 38 – 55 into the beast at a close range.

The last few hunted California grizzly bears was shot down in California, Tulare County in August 1922 which is over a century ago / 101 years ago. Although there was no body, skeleton, or pelt was every produced. Less than 75 years after the discovery of gold during the 1848, almost every grizzly bear located in California had been tracked down and killed. In 1924, what was though to be a grizzly bear was spotted down in Sequoia National Park for the last time and thereafter, there has been no more sightings of grizzlies in California ever since then.

 

Reintroduction

California still has a habitat which can handle around 500 grizzly bears. In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received an idea to make a petition to reintroduce grizzly bears back to California but since then the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected the petition. In 2015, the Center for Biological Diversity decided to launch a petition at the California state legislature to reintroduce the grizzly bear to the state. The California grizzly bear been considered as a possible candidate for attempts at de-extinction, through the proposed use of back breeding, cloning and genetic engineering to recreate extinct species.

 

Symbolism

The California grizzly bear is one of the state’s most visible and enduring symbols, adorning both the state flag and the seal too. The Bear Flag first flew in 1846 as a symbol of the short lived California Republic. A second version of the flag was adopted as the state flag by the state legislature in 1911. The bear symbol became a permanent part of the state seal in 1849. The California grizzly bear was designated as the official state animal in 1953. The bear is now celebrated in name and as a mascot of the sports team of the University of California, Berkeley ( the California Golden Bears ), and of the University of California, Los Angeles ( the UCLA Bruins ) and in the mascot of University of California, Riverside ( Scottie the Bear, dressed in a Highland kilt ). The California Maritime Academy operates a training ship named Golden Bear.

Source: California grizzly bear - Wikipedia

 

Kodiak Bear

1: Kodiak Bear

2: Description

( Skipping taxonomy because boring )

2.1: Colour

2.2: Size

2.3: Distribution and Density

3: Life History

3.1: Reproduction and survival

3.1: Denning

3.2: Home Range

 

The Kodiak Bear / Ursus arctos Middendorf, which is also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, can inhabit the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is the largest recognized subspecies or population of the brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today, which the other one being the polar bear. They are also considered by some to be population of grizzly bears.

Physiologically and physically, the Kodiak bear is very similar to the other brown bear and subspecies, such as the mainland grizzly bear / Ursus arctos horribilis, and the extinct California grizzly bear / U. a. californicus ( which was the last bear I wrote about ), with the main difference between them being in size. While there is generally much variation in size between brown bears in different areas, most usually weighs between 115 kg to 360 kg ( 254 lb to 794 lb ). On the other hand, the Kodiak Bear can commonly reach sizes of 300 kg up to 600 kg ( 660 lb to 1,320 lb ), and it has been known that it is able to exceed weights up to 680 kg ( 1,500 lb ). Despite this large variation in size, the diet and lifestyle of the Kodiak bear does not differ greatly from the other brown bears.

Kodiak bears have interacted with humans for centuries of years, especially the hunters and other people in the rural coastal regions of the archipelago. The bears are hunted for a sport and are encountered by the hunters pursuing the other species. Less frequently, Kodiak bears are usually killed by the people who property ( such as livestock ) or person are threatened. There is an increasing focus on conservation and protection of the Kodiak bear population as human activity in its range increases. The IUCN classifies the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), of which the Kodiak is a subspecies, which is currently ranked at the “ least concern “ in terms of endangerment or extinction, though the IUCN does not differentiate between subspecies and thus does not provide a conservation status for the Kodiak population. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game however, along with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to a lesser extent, closely monitor the size and health of the population and the number of bears hunted in the state.

Description

Skipping Taxonomy because it is boring, and I don’t know what it even means

Colour

Hair colors range from blonde to orange ( typically the females or bears from the southern parts of the archipelago ) to dark brown. The cubs which often retain a white “ natal ring “ around their neck for the first few years of their life. The Kodiak bear’s color is pretty similar to that of its close relatives, the mainland American and Eurasian brown bears.

 

Size

The Females ( sows ) can weigh from 181 kg to 318 kg ( 399 lb to 701 lb ), and for the males ( boars ), they can weigh 272 kg up to 635 kg ( 600 lb up to 1,400 lb ). Mature males average 477 kg to 534 kg ( 1,052 to 1,177 lb ) over the course of the year and can weigh up to 680 kg ( 1,500 lb ) at their peak times. The females are typically about 20% smaller 30% lighter than the males, and adult sizes are attained when they are six years old. The bears can weigh the least when they emerge from their dens in the spring and can increase their weight by 20% to 30% during late summer and fall. The Captive bears can sometimes attain weights that are considerably greater than those of their counterparts which are in the wilderness.

The average adult male can measure around 244 cm / 8 ft 0 in in length, and they stand 133 cm / 4 ft 4 in tall at their shoulders. The largest recorded wild male weighed at a whopping 751 kg / 1,656 lb, and they have a hind foot measurement of 46 cm / 18 in. A large male Kodiak bear can stand up to 1.5 m / 4.9 ft tall at their shoulders, when they are standing on all their four legs. When they stand fully upright on their hind legs, a large male could be able to reach a whopping height of 3 metres / 9.8 ft. The largest “ verified “ size for a captive Kodiak bear was for a specimen that lived at the Dakota Zoo which is located in Bismarck, North Dakota. Which was Nicknamed as” Clyde “, he weighed 966 kg 2,130 lb when he died at June 1987 at the age of 22. According to the zoo  director Terry Lincoln, it was thought that Clyde was probably near weighing close to 1,089 kg / 2,400 lb a year earlier. He still had a fat layer of 9 inches / 23 cm when he died.

Kodiak Bears are known as the largest brown bear, or you can compare their size to the polar bears. This makes the Kodiak bear and Polar bear both the two largest members of the bear family and Kodiak bears the largest extant terrestrial carnivorans.

The standard method of evaluating the size of the bears is by measuring the bears skull. Most North American hunting organizations and management agencies use calipers to measure the length of the skull ( the back of the sagittal crest on the back of the skull to the front tooth ), and the width (maximum width between the zygomatic arches – “ cheek bones”). The total skulls size is the sum of these two measurements. The largest bear which was killed in North America was from the Kodiak Island, with a total skull size of 78.1 cm / 30.7 inches, and eight of the top 10 brown bears listed in the Boone and Crockett record books are from the Kodiak brown bear. The average skull size of the Kodiak bear that were killed by the hunters for the first five years of the 21^st century was 63.8 cm / 25.1 inches for boars, and then 55.4 cm / 21.8 inches for the sows.

Also, a person named Teddy, which portrayed a killer bear in the movie “ Grizzly “, stood 3.4 metres / 11 ft tall on the hind legs and was the largest bear in the captivity at the time.

Distribution and density

This brown bear population only really occurs on the island of the Kodiak Archipelago ( Kodiak, Afognak, Shuyak, Raspberry, Uganik, Stikdalidak, and the adjacent islands ). The Kodiak bear population was estimated to include 3,526 bears in 2005, yielding an estimated archipelago wide population density of 270 bears per 1000km² ( 700 per 1000 sq. mi. ). During the past decade the population has been slowly increasing.

 

Life History

Reproduction and survival

Kodiak bears can reach their sexual maturity at around five years old, but most sows are over nine years old when they successfully wean their first litter. The average time between the litters is around four years. The Sows continues to produce cubs throughout their life, but their productivity diminishes after when they become 20 years old. Mating seasons for the Kodiak bears are during the May and June time. They are serially monogamous ( having one partner at a time ), staying together from two days to two weeks. As soon as the eggs is fertilized and divides a few times, it will enter to a state of suspended animation until autumn time when it will finally implants on the uterine wall and begins to grow again. Cubs are born in the mothers den during times after Winter which is January or February. Weighing less than 450 g / 1 lb at birth with their little hair and closed eyes, they suckle for several months, which they will emerge from their den during May or June, weighing at 6.8 kg to 9.1 kg / 15 to 20 pounds at  that time. Typical litters sizes on the Kodiak bears are two or three cubs, with a long term average of 2.4 cubs per litter. However, the Kodiak bears have six functional nipples and there have been reports of them birthing up to six cubs. Sows are sometimes seen with five or six cubs in tow, probably due to adopting the cubs from other abandoned dens. Most cubs will stay with their mothers for three years at a time until they are able to hunt themselves. Almost half of the cubs which the bears give birth will die before they leave, with cannibalism by the adult males being a major factor on why they die so young sadly.

Kodiak bears that have recently left their mothers, when they are around 3 to 5 years old, have a high mortality rates with only 56% of the males and 89% of the females surviving. Most young female bears stay within or near their mother’s home range, while most of the males move farther away. Most of the adult sows die of natural causes ( 56% ), while most adult male bears are usually killed by hunters ( 91% ). The oldest known male bear in the “wild” was 27 years old, and the oldest female in the “wild” was 35 years old.

 

Denning

Kodiak bears will begin entering their dens during the late October time. The Pregnant Female bears / sows are usually the first to go to dens; the males are the last. The Males will begin emerging from their den during the early April, while the sows with their new cubs may stay inside of her dens until late June. Bears living on the north end of Kodiak Islands will tend to have a longer denning periods than the bears in the southern areas. Most of the Kodiak bear will dig out their dens inside of a hill or out in the mountain sides and they will use a wide variety of denning habitats depending on which part of the archipelago they are living at. Almost a quarter of the adult bears forgo denning, and they will stay somewhat active during the winter time.

 

Home Range

Bears on Kodiak are naturally active during the day time, but when they are face with competition for food or space, they will adopt a more nocturnal ( active at nigh time ) lifestyle. This type of behaviour is especially evident in the bears that live near and within the Kodiak City. The Kodiak bears do not defend their territories, but they do have traditional areas that they use each years (home ranges). Because of the rich variety of foods available on Kodiak, the bears on the archipelago have some of the smallest home ranges of any type of brown bear populations in North America and a great deal of overlap occurs among the ranges of the individual bears. Home ranges of the adult sows on Kodiak Island will average 130 km² ( 50 sq. mi ), while the boars home ranges averages at 250 km² ( 97 sq. mi ).