Brown (Kodiak/Grizzly) Bear
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus and Species: Ursus arctos
A hulking, usually brown, animal with a humped back and powerful long claws. Although one of the most feared animals in the world, brown bears go out of their way to avoid people. Despite this, habitat loss and hunting have greatly reduced their populations.
Physical Description: Brown bears vary in size and color from region to region. The frosted, or grizzled, coats of bears living in the American west earned these animals the name "grizzly." In some other areas, brown bears have whitish or blackish coats. Kodiak bears—animals from the far northwestern North America—are the largest brown bears. In North America, brown bears often live in the same areas as the smaller American black bear. Brown bears are distinguished from black bears by their humped shoulders, more upturned snouts, longer fur, and longer claws. Brown bears have large snouts but small ears.
Size: Male brown bears grow larger than females. On all four legs, a brown bear stands up to five feet tall. But standing on two legs, as brown bears can do for short periods, a large individual towers up to nine feet tall. Females may weigh more than 450 pounds, but large males reach close to 1,000 pounds. Brown bears grow from six and a half to nine feet long.
Geographic Distribution: Brown bears live in mountains and grassy wilderness in North America, Europe, and Asia. However, their range has been greatly reduced. The largest populations remain in Alaska, Canada, and Russia. Small populations hang on in Austria, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Syria, northern India (in the Himalaya), and other countries. Fewer than 1,000 animals live in the lower 48 U.S. states, mainly around Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
Status: Outside Alaska, the U.S. brown bear population is listed as threatened. Scattered small populations in other areas, such as in Europe, are endangered, with sometimes only a few individuals remaining.
Habitat: Brown bears live in a wide variety of open, or semi-open, northern habitats, including grasslands, coastlines, tundra, and mountain and lowland forests.
Natural Diet: Like their habitats, brown bear diets vary. Brown bears are classic omnivores—animals that eat both meat and plants. Most brown bears primarily eat vegetation, including tubers (underground stems and roots), berries, and pine nuts. But they also eat moths, grubs, rodents (dug out of their burrows), carrion, and occasionally large animals such as horses, bison, and moose and other deer (usually young ones). Seasonally, salmon or trout are important foods.
Zoo Diet: Keepers fed the Zoo's Kodiak bear, Kiska, a dry-food mixture (called chow), plus vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots and fruits, including oranges, apples, and grapes.
Reproduction: Brown bear populations cannot easily bounce back from losses because they breed slowly. Females reach maturity between four and ten years old, and average about two cubs every four years. Male and female brown bears mate in late spring or early summer. Young, usually two or three cubs, are born in the mother's winter den between January and March. Usually, brown bears stay in their dens until April, May, or June. Young stay with the mother for one and a half to four and a half years.
Life Span: Brown bears live up to 30 years in the wild, and close to 50 years in zoos.
Behavior: Brown bears wander widely for food, living solitary lives, except for mothers raising young. However, in areas where food is concentrated, such as streams where salmon or trout are spawning, bears feed side by side. During cold months, from October or December through March or May depending on location and weather, brown bears sleep in dens inside caves, dug-out hollows, or dead trees. They emerge in warm weather. Brown bears rely upon scent more than hearing or sight to survey their surroundings.
A Few Brown Bear Neighbors:
Gray wolves (Canis lupus): These wolves inhabit the same areas as brown bears in North America and parts of Eurasia. In North America, coyotes (Canis latrans) often hang around bear kills, waiting to grab a few scraps.
Pumas (Puma concolor): Also known as mountain lions, pumas share brown bear habitat in North America's western mountains. In their small range in eastern Russia, the endangered Amur, or Siberian, tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) lives in areas inhabited by brown bears. They sometimes prey on young bears.
Ravens and magpies: Opportunistic members of the crow family, these birds often live near brown bears, taking advantage of the bear's leftover food. The common raven (Corvus corax) is a huge crow that croaks instead of caws. The black-billed magpie (Pica pica), smaller than a crow, has a long, shiny green-black tail, and white wing patches and belly.
Cervids: Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (Cervus elaphus), and moose (Alces alces) share western brown bear habitats, and occasionally become meals for them. In Eurasia, deer species include elk (or red deer), and roe (Capreolus capreolus) and fallow deer (Dama dama).
Salmon and trout provide important protein for brown bears before they den for the winter. In many areas, however, dams have blocked salmon and trout streams, and many populations have disappeared.
Fun Facts:
Kiska, the National Zoo's Kodiak bear who died in 2002, dug a seven-foot-deep winter den under her enclosure. She occupied the den from November to late March. She often emerged from sleep on warm winter days, when she sought out fruit and vegetable snacks keepers left for her.
Although it usually lopes along, a brown bear can charge surprisingly fast if threatened, moving up to 30 miles per hour for short stretches.
California's state flag depicts a grizzly bear. However, the last grizzlies in California were killed off by the 1920s.
By Howard Youth
ZooGoer 28(2) 1999.
Copyright 1999 Friends of the National Zoo.
All rights reserved.
