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Despite the wide variety of names they've been given -- grizzly, brown bear, Kodiak bear -- North American grizzly bears are all the same species: Ursus arctos (the same as the Eurasian brown bear found from Europe to Siberia). They vary considerably in size and coloration. These, photographed in Denali Park, Alaska, are the small 'interior' version which averages perhaps 220 kg (500 pounds) in males (but can be larger). The much bigger coastal or 'Kodiak' bears reach 700+ kg, perhaps because they have access to rich salmon runs that are not available to inland grizzlies. Anywhere you find them they are big, impressive animals, but as the photos at the bottom show, even a grizzly can look pretty small against the scale of Denali Park. |
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