Bear Watching Tours in British Columbia, Grizzly Bears, Grizzly Bear Tours, Alaska Bear Tours, Kodiak Bear Tours, Black Bears, Bear Hunting, Eco Tours, Polar Bears, Wild Bears, Bear Hunts, Bear Trips, Bear Photos, Bear Photography. What is a grizzly bear or grizzly? A large, powerful North American brown bear, characterized by gray-streaked, or grizzled, fur. Grizzlies are 6 to 8 ft (180–250 cm) long, stand 31⁄2 to 4 ft (105–120 cm) at the humped shoulder, and weigh up to 800 lb (360 kg). Primarily omnivorous, they are excellent hunters and prey on large mammals such as deer; they relish ants and other insects and depend on plants, roots, and berries to supplement their diet. Once widespread in the western half of North America, from the Arctic Circle to central Mexico, habitat destruction and hunters have nearly exterminated the grizzly. Classified as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, small groups can be found in protected regions of Alaska, Western Canada, and the U.S. Rocky Mts. The grizzly is a subspecies, Ursus arctos horribilis, of the brown bear, Ursus horribilis, which has small populations throughout North America and N Eurasia. It is classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Ursidae. |
Black bear - a medium-sized North American bear, Ursus (Euarctos) americanus, relatively common in uninhabited mountainous areas, ranging from light brown to black with a straight brown muzzle: northern populations may be gray to near-white.
Polar bear - a large white bear, Ursus maritimus, of the arctic regions.
Brown bear - A bear widespread in the N hemisphere (Ursus arctos, many subspecies); thick brown coat and pronounced hump on shoulders; in North America prefers open habitats, in Old World inhabits forest; includes the big brown bear and grizzly bear (also called silvertip or roachback) from the Rocky Mts, and the Kenai bear and Kodiak bear (both from S Alaska); Kodiak bear is the largest living carnivore (length 2·7 m/9 ft; weight up to 780 kg/1720 lb). The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is a species of bear that can reach weights of 130–700 kg (300–1500 pounds). The grizzly bear, the Kodiak bear and the Mexican brown bear are North American subspecies of the brown bear. It is sometimes referred to poetically as the bruin. Brown bears have coats in shades of blond, brown, black, or a combination of those colours; the long outer guard hairs are often tipped with white or silver, giving a "grizzled" appearance. Brown bears have a large hump of muscle over their shoulders which gives strength to the forelimbs for digging. Their heads are large and round with a concave facial profile. In spite of their size, they can run at speeds of up to 64 km/h (40 mph).
Once native to Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, brown bears are now extinct in some areas and have had their numbers greatly reduced in others. They prefer semi-open country, usually in mountainous areas. The brown bear ranges from Alaska east through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south through British Columbia and through the western half of Alberta. Isolated populations exist in northwestern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana, and northwestern Wyoming. The subspecies U. arctos horribilis (the Grizzly Bear) is the common brown bear of continental North America; the subspecies U. arctos middendorffi (Kodiak bear) includes bears on the Alaskan islands of Kodiak, Afognak, and Shuyak. The range of the subspecies U. arctos nelsoni is in northern Mexico. In Asia, the Himalayan Brown Bear (U. arctos isabellinus) is found in the foothills of the Himalaya.There are estimated to be about 200,000 brown bears in the world. The largest populations are in Russia, with 120,000, United States, with 32,500, and Canada with 21,750. Ninety-five percent of the population in the United States is in Alaska. In Europe, there are 14,000 brown bears in ten separate populations, from Spain to Russia.
The brown bear is primarily nocturnal and in the summer puts on up to 180 kg (400 pounds) of fat, on which it relies to make it through winter, when it becomes very lethargic. Although they are not true hibernators and can be woken easily, they like to den up in a protected spot such as a cave, crevice or hollow log during the winter months.Being omnivores, they feed on a variety of plant parts, including berries, roots, and sprouts; fungi; and fish, insects and small mammals. Contrary to popular mythology, brown bears are not particularly carnivorous; they derive up to three-fourths of their dietary food energy from vegetable matter. Interestingly, bears eat an enormous number of moths during the summer—sometimes as many as 20,000 to 40,000 in a day—and may derive up to one third of their food energy from moths.
Brown bears have also been found stealing the kills of tigers, wolves, and pumas. Two male tigers were found killed by brown bears in the year 2000.
Normally a solitary animal, the brown bear congregates alongside streams and rivers during the salmon spawn. Every other year females produce one to four young which weigh only one pound at birth.
With the encroachment of humans into bear habitat, bears may become attracted to human-related food sources such as garbage dumps, litter bins, dumpsters, etc., and may even venture into human dwellings or barns in search of food. Once a bear comes to associate human activity with a 'food reward', a bear is likely to continue to become emboldened in its quest for food and human/bear encounters become more likely. There is a saying: "a fed bear is a dead bear" which has come into use to popularize the idea that allowing bears to scavenge human garbage, pet food, or other food sources which draw the bear into contact with humans can result in disaster -- for the bear.Though bears have been relocated to areas distant from human populations, some bears become 'hooked' on a given food source and will return to the same location. Bears that have repeatedly returned to a given area, and thus have become perceived as dangerous are sometimes killed to prevent human injuries or death.
Yellowstone National Park, an enormous reserve located in the Western United States contains prime habitat for the Grizzly Bear (ursus arctos horribilis), as well as other Brown Bears, but due to the enormous number of visitors, human-bear encounters are not rare. The scenic beauty of the area has caused an influx of people moving into the area. In addition, because there are so many bear relocations to the same remote areas of Yellowstone, and because male bears tend to dominate the central core of the relocation zone, female bears tend to be 'pushed' to the boundaries of the region and beyond. The result is that a large proportion of 'repeat offender bears' -- bears that are destroyed for the public safety -- are females. This creates a further depressive effect on an already endangered species. Though the problem is most significant with regard to Grizzlies, these issues affect the other types of Brown Bear as well.
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