Brown Bear  Facts
(Ursus Arctos)

Height: 3- 3 ½ feet at shoulders
Length: 6-7 feet

Weight on Average: Adult males 300 - 900 lbs
                                Adult females 200 - 550 lbs

Top speed: 35 mph
Lifespan: 20 - 26 years

Also KNOWN AS THE GRIZZLY BEAR and the Coastal Brown Bear

Some male brown bears have weighed over 1400 lbs and as much as 2000 lbs
Female brown bears have been weighed in at 675 lbs to 1000 lbs

How long do Alaskan brown bears live?

Brown bears have lived as old as 34 years in the wild. With that said the average age old males live until is 20 - 25 years of age and for females they may reach as old as 25 - 26 years of age.

Population
There are somewhere in the range of 50,000 brown bears (grizzly bears) in North America. With 1,000 to 1,200 living in 5 seperate populations in the lower 48. There is over 35,000 brown bears in Alaska alone. The Alaskan Peninsula has some of the highest densities of Brown Bears in the world. You can expect to see a bear anywhere in Alaska however the heaviest concentrations are where human denisty is at its lowest and food source is abundant.

Mating
Reproduction
Mating Season Early May through mid-July
Gestation 63-70 days
Litter Size 1-3 cubs
The young are born in January or February while the mothers are hibernating in a den. Cubs will remain with their mothers for at least 2 - 4 years.
Brown bears mate from early May through mid July with the peak of the mating taking place in early June. Males mate with multiple females during breeding season. The cubs are born hairless and weigh less than 1 pound. The young are born in the den between January and February. Litter sizes vary from 1 to 3 cubs with 2 being the most common. Offspring typically separate from there mother at 2 years of age. In some parts of Alaska, research results reveal that offspring may not separate from their mothers until they are 3 to 5 years old. This appears to be most common in areas where food is scarce. In some of these areas, females may skip one to three years before producing new litters.

Growth and Devlopment
Weight - Bears weight vary depending upon the time of the year. They weigh the least in spring and early summer as they wake from there winter hibernation. Late summer and early fall they gain weight rapidly and are waddling fat just prior to denning.

Males: At the peak of maturity weighing between 500 and 900 pounds (180-445 kg) with extremely large individuals weighing as much as 1,400 pounds (640 kg).

Females: Female weigh about 3/4 less than males ranging between 250 to 550 pounds.

Diet
Omnivorous and will eat both vegetation and animals. Grasses, sedges, roots, berries, insects, fish, carrion and small and large mammals.
In some areas they eat moose, caribou and elk, in others they eat salmon. Grizzly bear diet varies depending on what foods are available in that particular season.

Threats To the Brown Bears Survival
The biggest threat to the Grizzly Bears survival in the lower 48 states, Alaska and throughout the world is human caused mortality. Bears come into contact with humans when poorly stored garbage is left out in a unapproved non bear proof containers. Bird feeders - squirrel feeders are all bad ideas in bear country. They often turn the bear into an unwelcomed Nuisance bear that now needs to be lethaly removed from the scene. In addition, some brown bears are accidentally killed by hunters who mistake them for black bears, which are legal to hunt. And lastly, illegal killing (poaching) of bears remains another reason for their decline. Another threat and a very serious one is land development. New homes and roads are encrouching into the bears habitat daily.

Mortality Rate of Cubs
Approximately 75% of all Brown Bear Cubs in Alaska do not make it thru the first year and approximately 60% thru the second year. There are several reasons why this is.
1. The Alaskan terrain is very rugged and dangerous climbing mountains scaling cliffs at times the cubs  will slip and fall hundreds of feet to there death.
2. Crossing rivers and fishing fast moving waters sometimes cubs drown.
3. The exact reasons for bear infanticide is not really known but it does go on among brown bears.
4. Starvation
5. Disease