Brown bear (Ursus arctos)
Brown bears are second only in size to polar bears. They are among the largest living land carnivores - although their diet is really omnivorous. A subspecies called the Kodiak bear is particularly impressive, and can reach similar sizes to its polar cousin.
What do they sound like?
Watch video clips from past programmes (4 clips)
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White clawed bears
Realms of the Russian Bear
A pale subspecies of the brown bear lives in the Tien Shan mountains of Russia.
Caddis fly picnic
August feast
Realms of the Russian Bear
Migrating salmon must always run the gauntlet of the waiting bears.
Moth-eating grizzlies
Planet Earth
Brown bears climb high into the Rockies in search of some surprising prey.
About the Brown bear
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It weighs 100 to 680 kilograms (220 to 1,500 lb) and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family, and as the largest land based predator.
While the brown bear's range has shrunk, and it has faced local extinctions, it remains listed as a least concern species by the IUCN, with a total population of approximately 200,000. Its principal range countries are Russia, the United States (especially Alaska), Canada, the Carpathian region (especially Romania), and Finland where it is the national animal.
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Scientific Classification
Genus: Ursus (genus) (Ursus)
Species: Brown Bear (arctos)
Other Ursus
- Black bear (americanus)
- Polar bear (maritimus)
Common Names
Brown bear
The Brown bear is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
They can be found in the following habitats:
Conservation Status
The Brown bear is Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Stable
Year assessed: 2008
Elsewhere on the web
- Brown bear - Ursus arctos (arkive.org)
- Gonatus ursabrunae (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- DigiMorph: skull scans and animation (digimorph.org)
- Bear research at Yellowstone (nrmsc.usgs.gov)
- Alaska Department of Fish and Game: bear facts (adfg.state.ak.us)
- Bear research and management: fact file (bearbiology.com)
- Brown bear (wikipedia.org)
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