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For the children's book, see Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene – Recent
A Kodiak bear (U. arctos middendorffi) in Katmai National Park, Alaska
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Carnivora
Family:
Ursidae
Genus:
Ursus
Species:
U. arctos
Binomial name
Ursus arctos
Linnaeus, 1758
Ursus arctos range map.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It weighs 70 to 780 kilograms (150 to 1,700 lb) and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family[2] and as the largest land based predator.[3]

There are two recognized animals within the brown bear species. The coastal brown bear and the mountain grizzly are the same species, the brown bear, but the coastal bear eats more meat and grows about twice as big. Grizzlies weigh as little as 350 lb (159 kg) in Yukon, while a brown bear can weigh 1500 lb (682 kg). Scientists have debated as to how many subspecies there truely are. Many have listed only 3, the grizzly bear, the Eurasian brown bear, and the infamous Kodiak bear. The largest ones, the coastal bears, range along the Pacific Coast, from the Amur River in the Far East to Kodiak Island off of Alaska.

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 (mostly in Alaska), Canada, the Carpathian region (especially Romania), and Finland where it is the national animal. Of the three most common bear species, including the polar bear and the black bear, the brown bear is the most widely distributed.

Brown bears are known for their brute strength. This has caused a fear to humans of the brown bear. The paw is comparable to a sledgehammer, capable of breaking the back of a deer, elk, or even a moose. A brown bear is one of the strongest land animals in the world. The powerhouse of the large swatting force is the shoulder hump, which brown bears are known for.

Naming and etymology

The brown bear is sometimes referred to as the bruin, from Middle English, based on the name of the bear in History of Reynard the Fox, translated by William Caxton, from Middle Dutch bruun or bruyn, meaning brown.[4] During the Old west, the grizzly was termed "Old Ephraim" and sometimes as "Moccasin Joe".[5]

Taxonomy and evolution

Brown bears are thought to have evolved from Ursus etruscus. The oldest fossils occur in China from about 0.5 million years ago. They entered Europe about 250,000 years ago, and North Africa shortly after. Brown bear remains from the Pleistocene period are common in the British Isles, where it is thought they outcompeted cave bears. The species entered Alaska 100,000 years ago, though they did not move south until 13,000 years ago.[6] It is thought that brown bears were unable to migrate south until the extinction of the much larger Arctodus simus.[7] Several paleontologists suggest the possibility of two separate brown bear migrations: grizzlies are thought to stem from narrow-skulled bears which migrated from northern Siberia to central Alaska and the rest of the continent, while Kodiak bears descend from broad-skulled bears from Kamchatka which colonised the Alaskan peninsula. Brown bear fossils discovered in Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky and Labrador show that the species occurred farther east than indicated in historic records.[6]

Subspecies

There is little agreement on classification of brown bears. Some systems have proposed as many as 90 sub-species, while recent DNA analysis has identified as few as five clades.[8] DNA analysis recently revealed that the identified subspecies of brown bears, both Eurasian and North American, are genetically quite homogeneous, and that their genetic phylogeography does not correspond to their traditional taxonomy.[9] As of 2005, 16 subspecies have been recognised.[10] The subspecies have been listed as follows:

Brown Bear Sub-species
Sub-Species Name Image Distribution Description
Ursus arctos arctos – Eurasian Brown Bear Europe, Caucasus, Siberia (except the east) and Mongolia[11] A predominantely dark coloured (rarely light coloured), moderately sized subspecies with dark claws. Animals occurring in Siberia are larger than their European counterparts, as they are hunted less[11]
Ursus arctos alascensis
Ursus arctos beringianus – Kamchatka Brown Bear (or "Far Eastern brown bear") Kamchatka Peninsula and Paramushir Island[11] A very large, dark coloured form. Light coloured forms are encountered less than in European-Siberian subspecies. Claws are dark.[11] Thought to be the ancestor of U. a. middendorffi.[6]
Ursus arctos californicus – California Golden Bear (extinct)
Ursus arctos collaris – East Siberian Brown Bear East Siberia from the Yenisei River to the Altai Mountains. Also occurs in northern Mongolia A predominantly dark form intermediate in size between U. a. arctos and U. a. beringianus, with a proportionately larger skull[11]
Ursus arctos crowtheri – Atlas Bear (extinct)
Ursus arctos dalli
Ursus arctos horribilis – Grizzly Bear Western Canada, Alaska, and the Northwestern United States A medium to dark brown coat with gray, or "grizzled" tips on the fur. Smaller than the coastal bear, typically weighing up to 800 lbs (364 kg) in inland areas, with bears in the Yukon region weighing as little as 350 lbs (159 kg). Coastal bears may be nearly twice a mountain grizzly's weight.
Ursus arctos isabellinus – Himalayan Brown Bear Nepal, Pakistan, and Northern India Having a reddish-brown or sandy coat colour, this bear is smaller than most other brown bears found on the Asian Continent.
Ursus arctos lasiotus – Ussuri Brown Bear (or "Amur brown bear", "black grizzly" or "horse bear") Russia: Southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Maritime territory, and the Ussuri/Amur river region south of the Stanovoy Range. China: Northeastern Heilongjiang. Japan: Hokkaidō[11] Thought to be the ancestor of U. a. Horribilis.[6]
Ursus arctos middendorffi – Kodiak Bear Kodiak, Afognak, Shuyak Islands (Alaska) The largest subspicies of brown bear with other coastal brown bears reaching as big.
Ursus arctos pruinosus – Tibetan Blue Bear Western China and Tibet.[11] A moderately sized subspecies with long and shaggy fur. Both dark and light variants are encountered, with intermediate colours predominating. The fur around the neck is light, and forms a "collar". The skull is distinguished its relatively flattened choanae, an arch-like curve of the molar row and large teeth[11]
Ursus arctos sitkensis Baranof Island Appears to be more closely related to the polar bear than to other brown bears.[9] This species is called "clade I" by Waits, et al., and is part of the subspecies identified as U. a. sitkensis, by Hall and as U. a. dalli by Kurtén.
Ursus arctos stikeenensis
Ursus arctos syriacus – Syrian Brown Bear Occurs in the Trans-Caucasus, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, western Himalayas and the Pamir-Alai and Tien Shan mountains.[11] A light coloured moderate to small sized subspecies with light claws[11]

Hybrids

Main article: Grizzly–polar bear hybrid

A grizzly–polar bear hybrid (known as a Pizzly Bear or Grolar bear) is a rare ursid hybrid resulting from a union of a brown bear and a polar bear. It has occurred both in captivity and in the wild. In 2006, the occurrence of this hybrid in nature was confirmed by testing the DNA of a strange-looking bear that had been shot in the Canadian arctic.[12][13][14] Previously, the hybrid had been produced in zoos and was considered a "cryptid" (a hypothesized animal for which there is no scientific proof of existence in the wild).

Physical description

Brown bear claws are longer and less curved than those of black bears
Brown bear skull

Brown bears are massively built and heavy bodied animals. They have a large hump-like mass of muscle on their shoulders which coupled with their long claws, provide brown bears with a great digging ability.[15] Brown bears have very large and curved claws, those present on the forelimbs being longer than those on the hind limbs. They may reach 5 to 6 centimetres (2.0 to 2.4 in) and sometimes 7 to 10 centimetres (2.8 to 3.9 in) along the curve.[11] They are never less than 6 centimetres (2.4 in) in length.[15] They are generally dark with a light tip (hence, the name "grizzly"), with some forms having completely light claws.[11] Brown bear claws are longer and straighter than those of American black bears.[15] The claws are blunt, while those of a black bear are sharp.

Adults have massive, heavily built concave skulls which are large in proportion to the body. The forehead is high and rises steeply.[15] The projections of the skull are well developed when compared to those of Asian black bears: the latter have sagittal crests not exceeding more than 19-20% of the total length of the skull, while the former have sagittal crests comprising up to 40-41% of the skull's length. Skull projections are more weakly developed in female brown bears than in males. The braincase is relatively small and elongated. There is a great deal of geographical variation in the skull, and presents itself chiefly in dimensions.[11] Grizzlies, for example, tend to have flatter profiles than European and coastal American brown bears.[16] Skull lengths of Russian bears tend to be 31.5 to 45.5 centimetres (12.4 to 17.9 in) for males, and 27.5 to 39.7 centimetres (10.8 to 15.6 in) for females. The width of the zygomatic arches in males is 17.5 to 27.7 centimetres (6.9 to 11 in), and 14.7 to 24.7 centimetres (5.8 to 9.7 in) in females.[11] Brown bears have very strong teeth: the incisors are relatively big and the canine teeth are large, the lower ones being strongly curved. The first three molars of the upper jaw are underdeveloped and single crowned with one root. The second upper molar is smaller than the others, and is usually absent in adults. It is usually lost at an early age, leaving no trace of the alveolus in the jaw. The first three molars of the lower jaw are very weak, and are often lost at an early age.[11] Although they have powerful jaws, brown bear jaws are incapable of breaking large bones with the ease of spotted hyenas.[17]

The dimensions of brown bears fluctuate very greatly according to sex, age, individual, geographic location, and season. The body length of large males from the Russian Far East and the Southwestern Alaskan Coast reach 2.45 to 2.55 metres (8 ft 0 in to 8 ft 4 in), and reach a shoulder height of 1.20 to 1.35 metres (3 ft 11 in to 4 ft 5 in). A large brown bear can reach 2.73 to 3 metres (8 ft 11 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height when standing on its hind legs. These large bears can weigh 500 to 680 kilograms (1,100 to 1,500 lb). The smallest subspecies have body lengths of 1.30 to 1.50 metres (4 ft 3 in to 4 ft 11 in) and weigh 56 to 80 kilograms (120 to 180 lb). Large weights are usually from old animals in nature reserves and under very favourable conditions. Females weigh no more than 75% of the mass attained by males and sometimes less.[11] Diet is known to be an important factor in geographical size variation. Coastal brown bears, with greater access to fish and lush vegetation, are nearly twice the weight of their inland counterparts. The heaviest recorded brown bear weighed over 1,150 kilograms (2,500 lb).[15]

Brown bears have long, thick fur, with a moderately long mane at the back of the neck. In India, brown bears can be reddish with silver tips, while in China, brown bears are bi-coloured with a yellow-brown or whitish cape across the shoulders. North American grizzlies can be dark brown (almost black) to cream (almost white) or yellowish brown. Black hairs usually have white tips.[15] The winter fur is very thick and long, especially in northern subspecies, and can reach 11 to 12 centimetres (4 to 5 in) at the withers. The winter hairs are thin, yet rough to the touch. The summer fur is much shorter and sparser, and its length and density varies geographically.[11]

Distribution and habitat

Brown Bear at Brooks Falls

There are about 200,000 brown bears in the world. The largest populations are in Russia with 120,000, the United States (mostly Alaska) with 32,500, and Canada with 21,750. 95% of the brown bear population in the United States is in Alaska, though in the lower 48 states they are repopulating slowly but steadily along the Rockies and the Western Great plains. Although many people hold on to the belief that some brown bears may be present in Mexico and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, both are almost certainly extinct. The last Mexican brown bear was shot in 1960. In Europe, there are 14,000 brown bears in ten fragmented populations, from Spain in the west, to Russia in the east, and from Scandinavia in the north to Romania(4000 - 5000), Bulgaria (750 - 900), Slovakia (with about 600 - 800) animals), and Greece (with about 200 animals) in the south. They are extinct in the British Isles, extremely threatened in France and Spain, and in trouble over most of Central Europe. The Carpathian brown bear population is the largest in Europe outside Russia, estimated at 4,500 to 5,000 bears. Scandinavia is home to a large bear population, with an estimated 2,500 (range 2,350–2,900) in Sweden, 900-1300 in Finland[18], and 70 in Norway. Another large and relatively stable population of brown bears in Europe, consisting of 2,500–3,000 individuals, is the Dinaric-Pindos (Balkans) population, with contiguous distribution in North-East Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, and Greece.[19]

Brown bears were once native to Asia, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, Europe, and North America,[20] but are now extinct in some areas and their populations have greatly decreased in other areas. They prefer semi-open country, usually in mountainous areas.

Brown bears live in Alaska, east through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south through British Columbia and through the western half of Alberta. Small populations exist in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of northwest Wyoming (with about 600 animals), the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem of northwest Montana (with about 400–500 animals), the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem of northwest Montana and northeast Idaho (with about 30–40 animals), the Selkirk Ecosystem of northeast Washington and northwest Idaho (with about 40–50 animals), and the North Cascades Ecosystem of north-central Washington (with about 5–10 animals). These five ecosystems combine for a total of roughly 1,200 wild grizzlies still persisting in the contiguous United States. Unfortunately, these populations are isolated from each other, inhibiting any genetic flow to occur between ecosystems. This poses one of the greatest threats to the future survival of the grizzly bear in the contiguous United States.

In Asia, brown bears are found in most of Russia, parts of the Middle East, and in a little bit of Manchuria in China. They can also be found on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan and in Western China and a little bit of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

The population of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain is so low, estimated at 14 to 18 with a shortage of females, that bears, mostly female, from Slovenia were released in spring 2006 to reduce the imbalance and preserve the species' presence in the area, despite protests from French farmers.

A small population of brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus) still lives in central Italy (Apennine mountains, Abruzzo and Latium) with no more than 70 individuals, protected by strong laws but endangered by the human presence in the area.

In Arctic areas, the potential habitat of the brown bear is increasing. The warming of that region has allowed the species to move farther north into what was once exclusively the domain of the polar bear. In non-Arctic areas, habitat loss is blamed as the leading cause of endangerment, followed by hunting.

North American brown bears seem to prefer open landscapes, whereas in Eurasia they inhabit mostly dense forests. It is thought that the Eurasian bears which colonized America were tundra-adapted. This is indicated by brown bears in the Chukotka Peninsula on the Asian side of Bering Strait, which are the only Asian brown bears to live year-round in lowland tundra like their North American cousins.[21]

Behavior

The brown bear is primarily nocturnal. In the summer, it gains up to 180 kilograms (400 lb) of fat, on which it relies to make it through winter, when it becomes very lethargic. Although they are not full hibernators, and can be woken easily, both sexes like to den in a protected spot such as a cave, crevice, or hollow log during the winter months. Brown bears are mostly solitary, although they may gather in large numbers at major food sources and form social hierarchies based on age and size.[22] Adult male bears are particularly aggressive and are avoided by adolescent and subadult males. Female bears with cubs rival adult males in aggression and more intolerant of other bears than single females. Young adolescent males tend to be least aggressive and have been observed making non-agonistic interactions with each other. In his Great Bear Almanac, Gary Brown lists 11 different sounds bears produce in 9 different contexts. Sounds expressing anger or aggravation include growls, roars, woofs, champs and smacks while sounds expressing nervousness or pain include woofs, grunts and bawls. Sows will bleat or hum when communicating with their cubs.[15]

Reproduction

File:Bear and cubs fapas.jpg
Female Cantabrian brown bear and cubs. With permission of Fapas (Conservation NGO - Foundation for the Protection of Wild Animals)

The mating season is from late May to early July. Being serially monogamous, brown bears remain with the same mate from several days to a couple of weeks. Females mature sexually between the age of 5 and 7 years, while males usually mate a few years later when they are large and strong enough to successfully compete with other males for mating rights.

A pair of mating Brown Bears, at the Bärengraben in Bern, Switzerland

Through the process of delayed implantation, a female's fertilized egg divides and floats free in the uterus for six months. During winter dormancy, the fetus attaches to the uterine wall. The cubs are born eight weeks later, while the mother sleeps. If the mother does not gain enough weight to survive through the winter, the embryo does not implant and is reabsorbed into the body. The average litter has one to four cubs, usually two. There have been cases of bears with five cubs, though sometimes females adopt strange cubs. Older females tend to give birth to larger litters. The size of a litter also depends on factors such as geographic location and food supply. At birth, the cubs are blind, toothless, hairless, and weigh less than 450 grams (1 lb). They feed on their mother's milk until spring or even early summer depending on climate conditions. At this time, the cubs weigh 7 to 9 kilograms (15 to 20 lb) and have developed enough to follow her and begin to forage for solid food.

Cubs remain with their mother from two to four years, during which time they learn survival techniques, such as which foods have the highest nutritional values and where to obtain them; how to hunt, fish, and defend themselves; and where to den. The cubs learn by following and imitating their mother's actions during the period they are with her.[23] Brown bears practice infanticide.[24] An adult male bear may kill the cubs of another bear either to make the female sexually receptive or simply for consumption. Cubs flee up a tree when they see a strange male bear, and the mother defends them even though the male may be twice her size.

Dietary habits

Brown bear feeding on salmon

They are omnivores and feed on a variety of plant products, including berries, roots, and sprouts, fungi as well as meat products such as fish, insects, and small mammals. Despite their reputation, most brown bears are not highly carnivorous as they derive up to 90% of their dietary food energy from vegetable matter.[25] Their jaw structure has evolved to fit their dietary habits. Their diet varies enormously throughout their differing areas based on opportunity. For example, bears in Yellowstone eat an enormous number of moths during the summer, sometimes as many as 40,000 in a day, and may derive up to half of their annual food energy from these insects.[26] In some areas of Russia and Alaska, brown bears feed mostly on spawning salmon, whose nutrition and abundance explain the enormous size of the bears in these areas. Brown bears also occasionally prey on large mammals, such as deer, elk, moose, caribou, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bison and muskoxen. When brown bears attack these animals, they tend to choose the young ones as they are easier to catch. When hunting, the bear pins its prey to the ground and then tears and eats it alive.[27] On rare occasions, bears kill by hitting their prey with their powerful forearms which can break the necks and backs of large prey, such as moose. They also feed on carrion and use their size to intimidate other predators such as wolves, cougars, tigers, and black bears from their kills.

Interspecific predatory relationships

Brown bear being followed by a wolf

Brown bears often use their large size for intimidation when a kill or a territory is in dispute with another large predator. Sometimes the conflict will escalate to the point of violence, but usually threat displays are sufficient since most animals try to avoid potential bodily harm. However, the massive strength and size of the brown bear will usually result in it winning violent conflicts. In situations where the interspecies conflict turns deadly, brown bears may also eat the competitor despite it not being the primary reason for attack.

Brown bears regularly intimidate wolves away from their kills. In Yellowstone National Park, brown bears pirate wolf kills so often that Yellowstone's Wolf Project Director Doug Smith wrote: "It's not a matter of if the bears will come calling after a kill, but when." Though conflict over carcasses is common, on rare occasions the two predators tolerate each other on the same kill. Given the opportunity, both species prey on each other's cubs.[28]

Adult bears are generally immune from predatory attacks from anything other than tigers or another bear. Some bears emerging from hibernation will seek out tigers in order to steal their kills.[29] However, in the Russian Far East brown bears, along with smaller Asiatic black bears constitute 5–8% of the diet of Siberian tigers. In particular, the brown bear's input is estimated to be 1–1.5%.[30] Tiger attacks on bears tend to occur when ungulate populations decrease, and occur mostly in the late autumn/early spring[31]. Large adult bears are generally immune to tiger attacks in summer, but have been killed in their dens in winter.[32].There are also records of bears killing tigers, including fully grown adult males and tigers whose sex and age were not specified [33], either in self defense, or in disputes over kills or for consumption.[34][35]

Brown bears usually dominate other bear species in areas where they coexist. Due to their smaller size, American Black Bears are at a competitive disadvantage over brown bears in open, non-forested areas. Although displacement of black bears by brown bears has been documented, actual interspecific killing of black bears by brown bears has only occasionally been reported. Confrontation is mostly avoided thanks to the black bear's diurnal habit and preference for heavily forested areas, as opposed to the brown bear's largely nocturnal habit and preference for open spaces.[36] Brown bears may attack Asian black bears,[37] though they will eat the fruit dropped by the latter species from trees, as they themselves are too large and cumbersome to climb.[38]

There has been a recent increase in interactions between brown bears and polar bears, theorized to be caused by climate change. Brown bears have been seen moving increasingly northward into territories formerly claimed by polar bears. Brown bears tend to dominate polar bears in disputes over carcasses,[39] and dead polar bear cubs have been found in brown bear dens.[40]

Relationship with humans

Front paw imprint.
Rear paw imprint.

Bears become attracted to human-created food sources such as garbage dumps, litter bins, and dumpsters; they venture into human dwellings or barns in search of food as humans encroach into bear habitats. In the U.S., bears sometimes kill and eat farm animals. When bears come to associate human activity with a "food reward", they are likely to continue to become emboldened; the likeliness of human-bear encounters increases, as they may return to the same location despite relocation. The saying, "a fed bear is a dead bear", has come into use to popularize the idea that allowing bears to scavenge human garbage, such as trash cans and campers' backpacks, pet food, or other food sources that draw the bear into contact with humans can result in a bear's death.

Relocation of the bear has been used to separate the bear from the human environment, but it does not address the problem of the bear's newly learned association of humans with food or the environmental situations which created the human habituated bear. "Placing a bear in habitat used by other bears may lead to competition and social conflict, and result in the injury or death of the less dominant bear."[41]

Yellowstone National Park, an enormous reserve located in the Western United States, contains prime habitat for the Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), and due to the enormous number of visitors, human-bear encounters are common. The scenic beauty of the area has led to 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 center of the relocation zone, female bears tend to be pushed to the boundaries of the region and beyond. As a result, a large proportion of repeat offenders, bears that are killed for public safety, are females. This creates a further depressive effect on an already endangered species. The grizzly bear is officially described as threatened in the U.S. Though the problem is most significant with regard to grizzlies, these issues affect the other types of brown bear as well.

In Europe, part of the problem lies with shepherds; over the past two centuries, many sheep and goat herders have gradually abandoned the more traditional practice of using dogs to guard flocks, which have concurrently grown larger. Typically they allow the herds to graze freely over sizeable tracts of land. As bears reclaim parts of their range, they may eat livestock. In some cases, the shepherds shoot the bear thinking that their livelihood is under threat. Many are now better informed about the ample compensation available and will make a claim when they lose livestock to a bear.

Bear encounters

Attacks on humans

As a rule, brown bears seldom attack humans on sight, and usually avoid people. They are however unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened.[43] Sows with cubs account for the majority of injuries and fatalities in North America. Habituated or food conditioned bears can also be dangerous, as their long-term exposure to humans causes them to lose their natural shyness, and in some cases associate humans with food. Small parties of one or two people are more often attacked than large groups, with no attacks being recorded against parties of six people or more. In contrast to injuries caused by American black bears, which are usually minor, brown bear attacks tend to result in serious injury and in some cases death.[43] In the majority of attacks resulting in injury, brown bears precede the attack with a growl or huffing sound[43], and seem to confront humans as they would when fighting other bears: they rise up on their hind legs, and attempt to "disarm" their victims by biting and holding on to the lower jaw to avoid being bitten in turn.[7] Such a bite can be as severe as that of a tiger, with some human victims having had their heads completely crushed by a bear bite.[16] Most attacks occur in the months of July, August and September, the time when the number of outdoor recreationalists, such as hikers or hunters, is higher. People who assert their presence through noises tend to be less vulnerable, as they alert bears to their presence. In direct confrontations, people who run are statistically more likely to be attacked than those who stand their ground. Violent encounters with brown bears usually last only a few minutes, though they can be prolonged if the victims fight back.[43]

Attacks on humans are considered extremely rare in the former Soviet Union, though exceptions exist in districts where they are not pursued by hunters.[11] Siberian bears for example tend to be much bolder toward humans than their shyer, more persecuted European counterparts.[44] In 2008, a platinum mining compound in the Olyotorsky district of northern Kamchatka was besieged by a group of 30 bears who killed two guards and prevented workers from leaving their homes.[45] Ten people a year are killed by brown bears in Russia.[46] In Scandinavia, only three fatal attacks were recorded in the 20th century.[47]

Native American tribes sympatric to brown bears often viewed them with a mixture of awe and fear. North American brown bears were so feared by the Natives that they were rarely hunted, especially alone. When Natives hunted grizzlies, the act was done with the same preparation and ceremoniality as intertribal warfare, and was never done except with a company of 4-10 warriors. The tribe members who dealt the killing blow were highly esteemed among their compatriots. Californian Indians actively avoided prime bear habitat, and would not allow their young men to hunt alone, for fear of bear attacks. During the Spanish colonial period, some tribes, instead of hunting grizzlies themselves, would seek aid from European colonists to deal with problem bears. Many authors in the American west wrote of Natives or voyagers were seen with lacerated faces and missing noses or eyes due to attacks from grizzlies.[7] Within Yellowstone National Park, injuries caused by grizzly attacks in developed areas averaged approximately 1 per year during the 1930s through to the 1950s, though it increased to 4 per year during the 1960s. They then decreased to 1 injury every 2 years (0.5/year) during the 1970s. Between 1980-2002, there have been only 2 grizzly bear-caused human injuries in a developed area. However, although grizzly attacks were rare in the backcountry before 1970, the number of attacks increased to an average of approximately 1 per year during the 1970s, 1980's, and 1990's.[48]

History of defense from bears

A study by Canadian and US researchers has found pepper spray to be more effective at stopping aggressive bear behavior than guns, working in 92% of studied incidents vs 67% for guns.[49] Carrying pepper spray is highly recommended by many authorities when traveling in bear country, however carrying two means of deterrent, one of which is a large caliber gun, is also advised. Solid shotgun slugs, or three buckshot rounds, or a semi-auto pistol of .45 caliber or more is suggested if a heavy hunting rifle is not available. Guns remain a viable, last resort option to be used in defense of life from aggressive bears.[50] Too often, people do not carry a proper caliber weapon to neutralize the bear. According to the Alaska Science Center, a 12 gauge shotgun with slugs has been the most effective weapon. There have been fewer injuries as a result of only carrying lethal loads in the shotgun, as opposed to deterrent rounds. State of Alaska Defense of Life or Property (DLP) laws require you to report the kill to authorities, and salvage the hide, skull, and claws.[51] Campers are often told to wear bright colored red ribbons and bells, and carry whistles to ward off bears. They are told to look for grizzly scat in camping areas, and be careful to carry the bells and whistles in those areas. Grizzly scat is difficult to differentiate from black bear scat, as diet is in a constant state of flux depending on the availability of seasonal food items. If a bear is killed near camp, the bear's carcass must be adequately disposed of, including entrails and blood if possible. Failure to move the carcass has often resulted in it attracting other bears and further exacerbating a bad situation. Moving camps immediately is another recommended method.

Smokey the Bear

In culture

Many Native American tribes both respected and feared the brown bear even thinking of it as a god.[52] One tale tells of how the black bear was a creation of the Great Spirit, while the grizzly was created by the Evil Spirit.[53] In Kwakiutl mythology, black and brown bears became enemies when Grizzly Bear Woman killed Black Bear Woman for being lazy. Black Bear Woman's children, in turn, killed Grizzly Bear Woman's own cubs.[54]

The grizzly bear is the state animal of both Montana and California. Smokey Bear has become a part of American culture since his introduction in 1944. Known to almost all Americans, he and his message, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" (updated in 2001 to "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires") has been a symbol of preserving woodlands.[55] Smokey wears a hat similar to one worn by many U.S. state police officers, giving rise to the CB slang "bear" or "Smokey" for the highway patrol.

"The Brown Bear of Norway" is a Scottish fairy tale telling the adventures of a girl who married a prince magically turned into a bear, and who managed to get him back into a human form by the force of her love and after many trials and difficulties.

The Russian bear is a common National personification for Russia (as well as the Soviet Union) and even Germany. The brown bear is Finland's national animal.

The school mascot for University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley is the brown bear.

See also

References

  1. ^ Template:IUCN2008
  2. ^ "Polar bear, (Ursus maritimus)" (PDF). U.S. Fish and Wildlife service. Retrieved 2008-03-22. Appearance. The polar bear is the largest member of the bear family, with the exception of Alaska's Kodiak brown bears, which equal polar bears in size. (Overview page)
  3. ^ Craig Boddington, illustrations by Ken Carlson (2004). Fair Chase in North America (illustrated ed.). Boone and Crockett Club. p. 45. ISBN 0940864479, 9780940864474. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  4. ^ American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
  5. ^ Hunting the Grisly and other Sketches
  6. ^ a b c d [http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_9/McLellan_Reiner_Vol_9.pdf A REVIEW OF BEAR EVOLUTION BRUCEM CLELLANF,o rest Sciences Research Branch,R evelstoke Forest District,R PO#3, Box 9158, Revelstoke, BC VOE3 KO DAVIDC . REINERU, .S. Fish and WildlifeS ervice, NS 312, Universityo f Montana, Missoula, MT]
  7. ^ a b c Did Large Predators keep Humans out of North America?
  8. ^ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2006-11-17). "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designating the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population of Grizzly Bears as a Distinct Population Segment; Removing the Yellowstone Distinct Population Segment of Grizzly Bears From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife" (PDF). Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 221. pp. 69854–69884. Retrieved August 1, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  9. ^ a b Lisette P. Waits, Sandra L. Talbot, R.H. Ward and G. F. Shields (1998). "Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeography of the North American Brown Bear and Implications for Conservation". Conservation Biology. pp. 408–417. Retrieved August 1, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Mammals of the Soviet Union Vol.II Part 1a, SIRENIA AND CARNIVORA (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears), V.G Heptner and N.P Naumov editors, Science Publishers, Inc. USA. 1998. ISBN 1886106819
  12. ^ "Wild find: Half grizzly, half polar bear: Hunter bags what expert 'never thought would happen' in wild". MSNBC.MSN.com. May 11, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-14.
  13. ^ James Mallet (2008). "Hybridization, ecological races and the nature of species: empirical evidence for the ease of speciation" (PDF). Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 363 (363): 2971–2986. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0081.
  14. ^ Anthony D. Barnosky (2009). Island Press (ed.). Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming. Washington, DC: Island Press/Shearwater Books. ISBN 1597261971.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Bear Anatomy and Physiology from Gary Brown's The Great Bear Almanac, Lyons & Burford, Publishers, 1993
  16. ^ a b The living animals of the world; a popular natural history with one thousand illustrations Volume 1: Mammals, by Cornish, C. J. (Charles John), 1858-1906; Selous, Frederick Courteney, 1851-1917; Johnston, Harry Hamilton, Sir, 1858-1927; Maxwell, Herbert, Sir, published by New York, Dodd, Mead and Company
  17. ^ ENAMEL MICROSTRUCTURAL SPECIALIZATION IN THE CANINE OF THE SPOTTED HYENA, CROCUTA CROCUTA, John M. Rensberger, Dept. of Geological Sciences and Burke Museum, Univ. of Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, Washington 98195 (Received for publication July 8, 1996 and in revised form April 1, 1997)
  18. ^ "RKTL - Karhu" (in Finnish). Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  19. ^ Bear Online Information System for Europe
  20. ^ "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4003325.stm". BBC News. 2004-11-12. Retrieved 2010-01-02. {{cite news}}: External link in |title= (help)
  21. ^ "Brown Bear Hunting in Russia". Russianbearhunt.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  22. ^ Egbert, Allan L., and Allen W. Stokes. 1974. The social behaviour of brown bears on an Alaskan salmon stream. International Conference Bear Res. and Manage. 3:41-56
  23. ^ "Brown Bear Reproduction". Shadowofthebear.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  24. ^ Mating Strategies in Relation to Sexually Selected Infanticide in a Non-Social Carnivore: the Brown Bear
  25. ^ "Alaska Office of Economic Development". Dced.state.ak.us. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  26. ^ "Yellowstone Grizzly Bears Eat 40,000 Moths a Day In August". Yellowstonepark.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  27. ^ French, S. P. and French M. G. Predatory behavior of grizzly bears feeding on elk calves in Yellowstone National Park, 1986-1988. 1990. International Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 8:335-341.
  28. ^ Betsy Downey. "Personal Encounter. Wolf-Grizzly interaction in Yellowstone National Park" (PDF). International Wolf Center.
  29. ^ Matthiessen, Peter (2001). Tigers In The Snow. North Point Press. ISBN 0865475962. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ Vratislav Mazak: Der Tiger. Nachdruck der 3. Auflage von 1983. Westarp Wissenschaften Hohenwarsleben, 2004 ISBN 3894327596
  31. ^ Mammals of the Soviet Union Volume II, p177
  32. ^ http://www.panthera.org/documents/Miquelle_Quigley_1996_Food_habits_of_Amur_tigers.pdf
  33. ^ Mammals of the Soviet Union Volume II, by V.G Heptner & A.A. Sludskii p177
  34. ^ Seryodkin, I. V., J. M. Goodrich, A. V. Kostyrya, B. O. Schleyer, E. N. Smirnov, L. L. Kerley, and D. G. Miquelle. 2005. Relationship between tigers, brown bears, and Himalayan black bears. Pages 156-163 in D. G. Miquelle, E. N. Smirnov, and J. M. Goodrich (eds.), Tigers of Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik: Ecology and Conservation. Vladivostok, Russia: PSP.
  35. ^ V.G Heptner & A.A. Sludskii (1992). Mammals of the Soviet Union, Volume II, Part 2. Leiden u.a.: Brill. ISBN 9004088768.
  36. ^ Notes[dead link]
  37. ^ Denning ecology of brown bears and Asiatic black bears in the Russian Far East
  38. ^ The Intellectual observer: review of natural history, microscopic research, and recreative science, published by Groombridge., 1865
  39. ^ adn.com | front: Polar bears, grizzlies increasingly gather on North Slope
  40. ^ "ABC News: Grizzlies Encroaching on Polar Bear Country". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  41. ^ "http://www.bearsmart.com/managingBears/Relocation.html". {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  42. ^ Wilson, Don E., and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. "Ursus arctos californicus". Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved April 1, 2008. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  43. ^ a b c d Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero, Hurtig Publishers Ltd./ Edmonton 1985
  44. ^ WOLVES, BEARS AND HUMAN ANTI-PREDATOR ADAPTATIONS
  45. ^ Bears besiege Russian mine after killing guards
  46. ^ Brown Bears of Russia
  47. ^ "Brown Bear". Tooth & Claw. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  48. ^ Bear Caused Human Injuries and Deaths In Yellowstone National Park
  49. ^ Smith, Herrero, DeBruyn, Wilde (2008). "Spray more effective than guns against bears: study". North American Bear Center. Retrieved 2009-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  50. ^ Smith, Tom S. "Brown Bear Projects at the Alaska Science Center". Alaska Science Center - Biological Science Office. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  51. ^ "Alaska State Troopers Press Release of Monday, November 19, 2007" (Case Number: 07-96958). Alaska Department of Public Safety. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  52. ^ Native American Animal Symbols - The Bear
  53. ^ Folklore and Legends of the North American Indian compiled by Joshua B Lippincott, published by Abela Publishing Ltd, 2009, ISBN 0956058469
  54. ^ Kwakiutl String Figures Julia P. Averkieva and Mark A. Sherman, published by UBC Press, 1992, ISBN 0774804327
  55. ^ Ad Council : Forest Fire Prevention - Smokey Bear (1944–Present)
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