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In-depth

Previous In-depths Landmark land settlement Carbon Conundrum Caribou in Canada The Mackenzie Delta Torngat Mountains Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) Travels with Louis British Columbia's Gulf Islands Moose on the loose Sustainable cities Icebergs Canada's musical landscape Quebec's James Bay Ottawa Valley Green with jade Hunting for cures Wild horses Canada's Bison Canada's place in the world Lessons learned in schools Power of powwows Cougars in Canada Greenland sharks Boreal birds Arctic grizzlies Lake Erie's Fire in the boreal forest Energy matters Parks for all Bighorn sheep Finding our way in the wilderness Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia Canada's grizzly bears

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ursus arctos. North America’s grizzly bears are subspecies of circumpolar brown bears, the same species as the European brown bear and the Asiatic brown bear. Two recognized subspecies are found in North America: Ursus arctos middendorffi, the Kodiak bears found on the Kodiak, Shuyak and Afognak islands of Alaska; and Ursus arctos horribilis, which includes all the rest, regardless of their differences in size.

POPULATION: the world population of brown bears is estimated to be 125,000 to 180,000 animals, about 100,000 of which live in the former Soviet Union. There are remnant populations of 100 or fewer in Spain, France and Italy. Some 40,000 to 50,000 are found in North America, roughly half in Canada. Only an estimated 1,200 remain within the lower 48 states.

DISTRIBUTION IN NORTH AMERICA: British Columbia, western Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alaska and, in reduced numbers, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington.

SIZE: the second largest terrestrial North American carnivore (after the polar bear), the grizzly varies considerably in size from one population to another. It can reach 2.6 metres in length.

WEIGHT: adult males weigh 135 to 390 kilograms; adult females weigh 95 to 275 kilograms. The largest bears live on the west coast of British Columbia and Alaska, where adult males may weigh more than 300 kilograms and adult females more than 200 kilograms.

NUMBER OF YOUNG: litters average one to four cubs, usually two. Females breed at three-to-four-year intervals.

AGE AT MATURITY: males 8 to 10 years; females 4.5 to 7 years.

LONGEVITY: 15 to 25 years in the wild, occasionally more.

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