The brown teddy bear and the grizzly bear

As far as this writer is concerned, a brown teddy bear and a brown bear stuffed animal are not the same thing; there are brown teddy bears that sit upright and have human-like arms and legs, and then there are brown teddy bears that can stand up and/or crouch on all fours just like the real bear they were designed for .

There has always been a lot of confusion surrounding the grizzly bear and what to call it. In North America, taxonomists agree that there are, in fact, two subspecies: the brown bear and the Kodiak bear. Whether or not you should call a grizzly bear a brown bear or a grizzly depends on who you ask. Some people refer to all continental North American brown bears as grizzlies, while others call them brown bears. Some decide what to call them based on where they live. The grizzly bear has tips of fur that appear “grizzled” in comparison to the smaller coastal brown bears or the Kodiak subspecies.

For thousands of years, Kodiak bears have lived separately from brown bears on Kodiak, Afognak, and Shuyak Islands in southwestern Alaska. There has never been any inbreeding from other bear populations. Kodiak bears are among the largest in the world, quite comparable in size to the polar bear. Large males can be over 10 feet tall on their hind legs and 5 feet when on all fours. Males can weigh over 1,500 pounds after feeding on salmon. In the Journal of Mammalogy, there was a listing for a male Kodiak bear weighing 1,648 pounds. Females, on the other hand, are 30 percent lighter than males, as well as being 20 percent smaller.

Unlike Kodiak bears, grizzly bears do not live in coastal areas, which gives Kodiak an advantage in terms of dietary protein; in the waters around which they live, there is a rich supply of salmon which they feast on when the salmon are spawning. In fact, the areas are so rich that 40 percent more brown bears could live there. Grizzlies can be found living in Canada: British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories. They also make their home in the United States in Alaska, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming. They usually live in a range of between 10 and 380 square miles and it is inland, away from water. Some type of wooded or brush-covered land can usually be found in their range which they will often use to escape. With the exception of salmon, brown bears and Kodiak bears generally eat the same things: berries, roots, rodents, white-barked pine nuts, and plant bulbs. They have also been known to prey on moose, elk, ibex, and mountain sheep, and in spring, will feed on the young of these animals.

Don’t get too confused about what to call a grizzly bear – all you need to know when it comes to buying a brown teddy bear is that you want a brown teddy bear. It’s that easy. Of course, if it’s a brown teddy bear you want, stay away from the brown teddy bear!

Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010.