Formerly or currently considered subspecies or populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos) have been listed as follows:
List
Eurasia and North Africa
North America
Ecotypes or regional populations Brown bear size, most often measured in body mass, is highly variable and is correlated to extent of food access. Therefore, bears whose range in areas with access to openings, cover, and moisture or water are on average larger, whereas those bears that range into enclosed forested areas or arid, sparsely vegetated regions, both of which tend to be suboptimal foraging habitat for brown bears, average smaller. The brown bear in northern Europe (i.e., Scandinavia, eastern Europe, western Russia), Yellowstone National Park or interior Alaska seasonally weigh on average between 115 and 360 kg (254 and 794 lb), from mean low adult female weights in spring to male bear mean high weights in fall. Brown bears from the Yukon Delta, interior British Columbia, Jasper National Park and southern Europe (i.e., Spain, the Balkans) can weigh from 55 to 175 kg (121 to 386 lb) on average. These mass variations represent only two widespread subspecies, the grizzly bear in North America and the Eurasian brown bear in Europe. Due to the lack of genetic variation within subspecies, the environmental conditions in a given area likely plays the largest part in such weight variations. The grizzly is especially variable in size, as grizzlies from the largest populations, i.e., interior Alaska, with the heaviest weights recorded in Nelchina, Alaska, nearly three times heavier in males than the smallest grizzlies from Alberta, Canada's Jasper National Park. Between the sexes, the grizzlies of Nelchina average around 207 kg (456 lb), whereas the Jasper grizzlies averaged about 74 kg (163 lb). The enclosed taiga habitat of Jasper presumably is sub-optimal foraging habitat for grizzlies, requiring them to range widely and feed sparsely, thus reducing body weights and putting bears at risk of starvation, while in surfaces areas in the tundra and prairie are apparently ideal for feeding. Even elsewhere in Alberta, weights averaging more than twice those of Jasper grizzlies have been recorded. A gradual diminishment in body size is noted in grizzly bears from the sub-Arctic zone, from the Brooks Range to the Mackenzie Mountains, presumably because food becomes much sparser in such regions, although perhaps the most northerly recorded grizzly bears ever, in the Northwest Territories, was a large and healthy male weighing 320 kg (710 lb), more than twice as much as an average male weighs near the Arctic Circle. Data from Eurasia similarly indicates a diminished body mass in sub-Arctic brown bears, based on the weights of bears from northern Finland and Yakutia. Head-and-body length in grizzly bears averages from 1.8 to 2.13 m (5 ft 11 in to 7 ft 0 in) while in Eurasian brown bears it similarly averages from 1.7 to 2.1 m (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 11 in). Adult shoulder height averaged 95.2 cm (3 ft 1 in) in Yellowstone (for any bear measured five or more years old) and a median of 98.5 cm (3 ft 3 in) (for adults only 10 or more years old) in Slovakia. Standing on its hindlegs, a posture only assumed occasionally, typically sized brown bears can reportedly range from 1.83 to 2.75 m (6 ft 0 in to 9 ft 0 in) in standing height. Exceptionally large inland specimens have been reported in several parts of North America, Europe, Russia and even Hokkaido. The largest recorded grizzlies from Yellowstone and Washington both weighed approximately 500 kg (1,100 lb) and Eastern European bears have been weighed in Slovakia and Bulgaria of up to 400 kg (880 lb), about double the average weight for male bears in these regions. Among the grizzly and Eurasian brown bear subspecies, the largest reportedly shot from each being 680 kg (1,500 lb) and 481 kg (1,060 lb), respectively. The latter bear, from Western Russia, reportedly measured just under 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in head-and-body length.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
