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.
| Grizzly bear Temporal range: Pleistocene – Present | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | U. a. horribilis |
| Trinomial name | |
| Ursus arctos horribilis (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Former subspecies now synonymised | |
| Historic and present range | |
In addition to the mainland grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis), other morphological forms of brown bear in North America are sometimes identified as grizzly bears. These include three living populations—the Kodiak bear (U. a. middendorffi), the Kamchatka bear (U. a. beringianus), and the peninsular grizzly (U. a. gyas)—as well as the extinct California grizzly (U. a. californicus†), Mexican grizzly (formerly U. a. nelsoni†), and Ungava-Labrador grizzly (formerly U. a. ungavaesis†). On average, grizzly bears near the coast tend to be larger while inland grizzlies tend to be smaller.
The Ussuri brown bear (U. a. lasiotus), inhabiting Russia, Northern China, Japan, and Korea, is sometimes referred to as the "black grizzly", although it is no more closely related to North American brown bears than other subspecies of the brown bear around the world.