Brown bear - Ursus arctos

• Ursus arctos arctos – Eurasian brown bear
• Ursus arctos beringianus – Kamchatka or Far Eastern brown bear
• Ursus arctos collaris – East Siberian brown bear
• Ursus arctos isabellinus – Himalayan brown bear
• Ursus arctos lasiotus – Ussuri or Amur brown bear, black grizzly or horse bear
• Ursus arctos pruinosus – Tibetan blue bear
• Ursus arctos syriacus – Syrian brown bear

Brown bears are massive, heavy built animals but they can vary significantly in size depending on sex, age, geographic location and season. Typically, brown bears have a head-and-body length of 1,7 to 2,8 meters and a shoulder height of 90 to 150 centimeters.
They have been known to reach 700 kg, but brown bear males typically weight between 260 and 400 kg, while females weigh 150 to 250 kg. The smallest subspecies is the Eurasian brown bear, whose mature females may weigh as little as 90 kg after hybernating.The largest subspecies found in Europe and Asia is the Siberian brown bear.

Brown bear

Brown bears are found in a variety of habitats from dry Asian steppes to Arctic shrublands to temperate rain forests, but they prefer wilderness regions containing river valleys, mountain forests, and open meadows. Home ranges are among the largest of all land mammals, up to 2600 km2, but in good habitat some home ranges may be as small as 15 - 60 km2.

Brown bears are omnivorous, feeding on fruit, roots, insects, mammals and carcasses.

Hibernation lasts from around October/December to March/May, however, in southern areas it can be shorter or not occur at all.

Brown bears mate from May to July, with births (1-3 cubs) usually occurring while the female is in hibernation. Cubs weigh only 340 to 680 grams at birth and they usually remain with the mother for 3-4 years. Although they reach sexual maturity between 3 and 6 years of age, brown bears continue to grow until 10-11 years old. They are solitary except during mating season.

In the wild, brown bears can reach 20 to 30 years of age.

Brown bears are endangered in most of Central Europe. Small, isolated populations in southern Europe are especially fragile, but world-wide brown bear numbers are considered to be stable. Globally, the largest population is found east of the Ural mountain range, in the forests of Siberia.

The Russian population is estimated to exceed 100,000 brown bears, of which 36,000 live in European Russia, while the rest of Europe harbours approximately 15,000 brown bears. However, due to the generally shy nature of these animals and the inaccessibility of some of their habitats, it is difficult to produce exact population estimates.

Small populations of brown bears are also scattered across many portions of Asia, but little is known about numbers or connectivity.

The total world population of brown bears is estimated to exceed 200,000.

The brown bear currently occurs in:

• Afghanistan
• Albania (250)
• Andorra (recently reoccupied)
• Armenia
• Austria (30-40 shared with Slovenia and Italy)
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus (120-250)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (1200)
• Bulgaria (500)
• Croatia (600-1,000)
• Czech Republic (2-3)
• Estonia (440-600)
• Finland (800-900)
• France (8-9)
• Georgia
• Greece (150)
• Iran
• Italy (50-60)
• Japan (2,000)
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia (20-40)
• Macedonia (<200)
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Norway (8-21)
• Pakistan
• Poland (100)
• Romania (6,600)
• Russian Federation (100,000, of which 36,000 in European Russia)
• Serbia (60)
• Slovakia (700)
• Slovenia (320-400)
• Spain (120-150)
• Sweden (1,600-2,850)
• Tajikistan
• Turkey
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine (400-970)
• Uzbekistan

• Afghanistan
• Albania
• Andorra
• Armenia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Greece
• Iran
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia
• Macedonia
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Norway
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Tajikistan
• Turkey
• Turkmenistan
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan

• Altai
• Caucasus
• Carpathians
• Cantabrian mountains
• Central Apennines
• Hardangervidda
• Lena Delta
• Orel-Bryansk
• Taymyr

The brown bear is the most widely distributed ursid. In the past it was found throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even across North Africa. It presently occupies 800,000 km² of Europe (excluding Russia), and much of northern Asia.

The brown bear has long been extinct in the British Isles, but it still exists in many parts of Northern Europe and Russia.

• The largest brown bear population in Europe is the North-eastern population (~ 37,000 bears) that extends from Latvia and Estonia, through European Russia and Finland to northern Norway
• This population is almost connected to the Scandinavian population (~ 2,000 bears) that occurs mainly in Sweden, but has recently been expanding into central and southern Norway
• The Carpathian population (~ 8,100 bears) extends from Romania, through Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia
• The Dinaric-Eastern Alps population (~ 2,800 bears) extends from Austria, through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Macedonia to Northwest Greece
• Two populations of intermediate size are also found in the Balkans, the Rila-Rhodope Mountains (520 bears) on the Greece-Bulgaria border, and the Stara Planina mountains (200 bears) in central Bulgaria
• Finally there are 6 small relict populations, in Italy in the Central Appennines (40-50 bears) and in the Italian Alps (8 bears), in two discrete locations in the Pyrenees (total < 20 bears) on the French-Spanish border, and in two distinct populations in Spain’s Cantabrian Mountains (80-100 bears and 20-30 bears)

Although, as a whole, this species is secure, with relatively large numbers and an expansive range, several small, isolated populations are threatened due to their low numbers and frequent contact with humans. As wide-ranging omnivores, brown bears are attracted to areas with agricultural products and often killed as a consequence.

Even where brown bears exist in a large, contiguous population, they are sometimes hunted for sport or killed for control purposes at unsustainable rates. Many countries do not have the resources for adequate monitoring and sustainable management plans for brown bears. Moreover, even with such plans in place, illegal take may equal or exceed the legal take. This is occurring in the Russian Far East, where brown bears are poached for the commercial trade in gall bladders and paws. Bear gall bladders remain highly prized for the Asian aphrodisiac market although there is no evidence that products derived from bear parts have medical value.

In addition to direct removal of brown bears, many human activities such as agriculture, plantation forestry, highways, hydroelectric developments, and human settlements destroy, fragment, or erode bear habitat. Habitat fragmentation is a serious threat that isolates populations, with negative demographic and genetic impacts. With increasing human populations, the value of brown bear habitat is being degraded in many areas.

• Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe
  A Working Group of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission
• Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project
  To understand the ecology of the Scandinavian brown bear, to provide the scientific basis for the management of the species in Sweden and Norway, and to provide information to the general public.
• International Association for Bear Research and Management
  The International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) is a non-profit tax-exempt organization open to professional biologists, wildlife managers and others dedicated to the conservation of all bear species
• Great Bear Foundation
  The Great BearFoundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of bears and their habitat around the world.
• Human Bear Conflict (HBC)
  Human Bear Conflict (HBC) is a major international animal welfare problem, affecting all eight bear species and giving rise to economic, social, political and conservation challenges for humans.

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