The Alaska Peninsula brown bear or "peninsular grizzly" is a colloquial nomenclature for a

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

that lives in the coastal regions of southern

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. It is a population of the mainland

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

subspecies (''Ursus arctos horribilis''). Alaska Peninsula brown bears are very large, usually ranging in weight from . They are found in high densities along the southern Alaskan coast due not only to the large amount of

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

s and sedge grass but also to the annual

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

runs; this allows them to attain huge sizes, some of the biggest in the world. They may gather in large numbers at feeding sites, such as

Brooks Falls Brooks Falls is a waterfall located within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Located on the Brooks River a mile and a half (2.4 km) from Brooks Lake and an equal distance from Naknek Lake, the falls are famous for watching salmo ...

and

McNeil Falls ''McNeil Falls'' is a waterfall on the McNeil River near Katmai National Park, Alaska. The river is famous for its large concentrations of brown bears and salmon. The salmon arrive mostly in July, having spent their lives in Kamishak Bay, and when ...

, both in

Katmai National Park Katmai National Park and Preserve is an American national park and preserve in southwest Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park and preserve encompass , which is between the sizes of Connecticut a ...

near

King Salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other v ...

. Biologists maintain that coastal ones are truly brown bears. However, it is considered correct to place all North American members of ''U. arctos'' in the subspecies ''horribilis'' except the giant Kodiak bears of

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second larges ...

. To avoid confusion, many simply refer to all North American members, including Kodiaks, as "brown bears". Prized by hunters for their skulls and hides, up to 500 of Alaska's 1,500 brown bears killed yearly by hunters come from the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ale, Alasxix̂; Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The ...

. To hunt this large bear, hunters must follow a variety of regulations, including bear bag limits, hunting fees and proper rifles.

Naming and etymology

The Alaska Peninsula brown bear's name most likely arose because, until 1975, it was considered a different species from the inland grizzly bear. It was never considered closer to

European brown bear The Eurasian brown bear (''Ursus arctos arctos'') is one of the most common subspecies of the brown bear, and is found in much of Eurasia. It is also called the European brown bear, common brown bear, common bear, and colloquially by many ot ...

s than inland grizzlies, but was given a different name, due to the size and color differences of coastal brown bears and inland grizzlies. From 1975 onward, it was considered to be the same species, but coastal ones retained the name "brown bear". When mentioning Brown bears or Grizzly bears, they are the same animal living in different areas. Coastal bears tend to be larger because of a diet high in salmon. The total number of Brown bears in the U.S. is estimated at 32,000 with approximately 95% (30,400) living in Alaska. Around 4000 of these are coastal bears.

Appearance

Alaska Peninsula brown bears are among the largest types of brown bear in the world. They usually measure in length, usually have a shoulder height of about 4 to 4 1/2ft or 1.22 to 1.37 meters (137 cm), and a hindfoot length of . One study found that the average weight for a coastal male was around , and for a female. One of the tallest Alaskan brown bears was measured at 2.74 m tall. An occasional huge male brown has been recorded which greatly exceeds ordinary size, with weights reported up to . A large coastal male of this size may stand up to tall on its hind legs, and be up to at the shoulder. The biggest individual on record was shot in 1948 near Cold Bay. Its weight was estimated at . This bear just came out of hibernation and carried little or no fat; that means the animal would have weighed around at the end of the summer. Although variable from blonde to nearly black, grizzly bear fur is typically brown in color with white tips. A pronounced hump appears on their shoulders; the hump is a good way to distinguish a black bear from a grizzly bear, as black bears do not have this hump.

Diet

A054, Katmai National Park, Brooks Falls, Alaska, USA, bear and salmon, 2002

Brown bears on the Alaskan Peninsula usually feed on spawning

, and use many different ways to catch them. These include waiting at the bottom of the falls for the fish to jump, or standing at the top of the falls waiting to catch the fish in midair (sometimes in their mouths). Bears also have much experience at chasing fish around and pinning the slippery animals with their claws. After the salmon runs, berries and grass make the mainstay of the bears' diets, after which they put on sufficient fat reserves and go into hibernation.

References

External links

{{Arctos Grizzly bears Fauna of Alaska Endemic fauna of the United States Endemic fauna of Alaska Arctic land animals Carnivorans of North America Mammals of the Arctic Mammals of the United States Least concern biota of the United States Extant Late Pleistocene first appearances