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many people who come to visit Kodiak

Island Katmai National Park and other

parts of Alaska for bear viewing

opportunities often get a little

confused about the differences between

the various species and subspecies of

bears I often hear folks refer to Kodiak

brown bears as well as the coastal brown

bears of the mainland of Alaska as

grizzly bears however technically they

are somewhat different grizzly bears

coastal brown bears and Kodiak bears are

all the same species that is Ursus

arctos but the grizzly bear Ursus arctos

horriblest

and the Kodiak bear Ursus arctos

Middendorf II are considered separate

subspecies of which there are

significant differences in north america

brown bears are considered to be those

of the species that have access to

coastal food sources while grizzly bears

are essentially brown bears that live

further inland and typically don't have

access to marine derived food sources

the Kodiak bear is a coastal brown bear

which lives on the kodiak island

archipelago and has been isolated for

12,000 years from the brown bears of the

mainland of Alaska they have a slightly

larger bone structure and hold the

unique title of being the biggest bear

in the world with the largest one on

record being close to 1700 pounds now

the polar bear does get bigger than the

Kodiak brown bear

however the polar bear is classified as

a marine mammal

while both grizzly and coastal brown

bears including Kodiak bears are often

referred to as carnivores they are

actually omnivores and eat a wide

variety of foods

grizzly bears eat berries roots all

sorts of plants ground-dwelling rodents

worms pine nuts whatever carrion they

can find as well as moose elk deer black

bear sheep mountain goats and other

mammals that may live in their

particular region especially the calves

of those animals Kodiak bears and the

coastal brown bears of the mainland eat

many similar things as the interior

Grizzlies such as grass and other plants

berries and dead animals but a

substantial portion of their diet

consists of salmon and other coastal

food sources which greatly contributes

to their enormous size coastal brown

bears generally don't expend the time

and energy necessary to aggressively

chase down and kill other mammals since

nutritious food sources are usually

readily available and much easier to

attain besides the differences in

habitat and diet there are also physical

and temperamental differences between

the coastal brown bears and the true

grizzly bears large male coastal brown

bears CAD routinely weigh well over a

thousand pounds in the fall when gorging

themselves on fish

in contrast grizzly bears who live in

the interior regions of wilderness weigh

far less on average also since the

grizzly bear has much more limited food

resources and must work significantly

harder at attaining them they can be

much more aggressive than the larger

coastal brown bears both coastal brown

bears and grizzly bears can vary in

color from shades of light brown and

blonde to dark brown and almost black in

coloration

however the fur of grizzly bears is

typically lighter in color at the tips

giving the

grizzled effect while there are other

differences between the various

subspecies of brown bears those are the

main ones if you'd like to learn more

about bears especially how to photograph

them safely check out my book how to

photograph bears the beauty of the beast

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