Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren Vogel bum here with today's question,
Speaker 1: what's the difference between black bears and brown bears? The
Speaker 1: animals we call black bears belong to the species Ursus americanas.
Speaker 1: Despite their common name, they can be black, brown, gray, whitish,
Speaker 1: or even blonde in color. Another bear that coexists with
Speaker 1: it is a separate species known as Ursus arctos, or
Speaker 1: the brown bear. If you're confused, don't worry. We are
Speaker 1: here to clear things up. Just bear with us. You'll
Speaker 1: never see a wild black bear outside of North America,
Speaker 1: even though it's the most populous bear species alive today,
Speaker 1: with an estimated eight hundred thousand animals. The black bear
Speaker 1: is restricted to Canada, Mexico, Alaska, and the continental United States.
Speaker 1: Brown bears are less common in terms of sheer numbers,
Speaker 1: only about a hundred and ten thousand are thought to exist,
Speaker 1: but they've got the widest geographic range of any modern
Speaker 1: ur said indigenous to both North America and Eurasia, wild
Speaker 1: brown bear populations are dispersed from Spain to Central Canada,
Speaker 1: and one extinct subspecies lived in Africa as recently as
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies. Brown bears have subspecies galore. If you've
Speaker 1: ever been to Yellowstone National Park or followed Memphis basketball,
Speaker 1: you should be familiar with at least one of them.
Speaker 1: The iconic grizzly bear scientific name Ursus arctos horribilious. Grizzlies
Speaker 1: once roamed a huge chunk of the North American continent.
Speaker 1: Due to human activities, however, they've become restricted to Alaska
Speaker 1: and northwestern Canada, along with portions of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
Speaker 1: and Washington State. Neither brown nor black bears are listed
Speaker 1: by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered
Speaker 1: or threatened. Grizzlies nevertheless enjoy some federal action under the
Speaker 1: US Endangered Species Act as of this writing. Another brown
Speaker 1: bear subspecies encountered in this hemisphere is Ursus arctos mindorfi,
Speaker 1: the Kodiak bear. Found exclusively on Alaska's Kodiak Archipelago. It's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest predators that now walks the Earth.
Speaker 1: They're large enough to sometimes rival the polar bear in
Speaker 1: size weights of one thousand, sixty to one thousand, one
Speaker 1: hundred eighty pounds that's about four hundred and eighty to
Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty five kilos are considered normal for
Speaker 1: male Kodiak bears. Grizzly males are a little slimmer, averaging
Speaker 1: between three hundred and eight hundred and sixty pounds that's
Speaker 1: about a hundred thirty five to three d nine kilos.
Speaker 1: In both cases, females or sALS belong to a different
Speaker 1: size class. Your typical kodiak sow is around twenty lighter
Speaker 1: and thirty smaller dimension wise than a normal male. Grizzlies
Speaker 1: have a similar disparity. Standing on all four a grown
Speaker 1: male brown bear can measure five feet that's one and
Speaker 1: a half meters tall at the shoulder, and when they
Speaker 1: rear up, the biggest individuals can assume a towering height
Speaker 1: of ten feet or three meters. Black bears can't compete
Speaker 1: with those dimensions. Their maximum shoulder height is closer to
Speaker 1: three feet or just shy of a meter, and they
Speaker 1: stand a mere five to seven feet that's one and
Speaker 1: a half to two meters tall. When fully reared. Male
Speaker 1: black bears usually tip the scales at a hundred thirty
Speaker 1: to five hundred pounds that's about sixty two thirty kilos,
Speaker 1: where a sous way between fifty and two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty pounds, that's forty and ten kilos. Thankfully, you don't
Speaker 1: need measuring tape or a Yogi bear sized bathroom scale
Speaker 1: to tell black and brown bears apart. Brown bear shoulders
Speaker 1: aren't just taller by comparison, they're also more prominent, giving
Speaker 1: the creatures a distinctive hump when viewed in profile. It's
Speaker 1: a feature that black bears lack. The black bear has straighter,
Speaker 1: shorter claws the help it climb trees and tear up logs. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the brown bears long and curvy claws make great digging tools.
Speaker 1: They also leave some very different paw prints behind. Brown
Speaker 1: bear four paws leave a wider gap between the toes
Speaker 1: and the pad that sits behind them, and overall, black
Speaker 1: bear pandprints look rounder a relative to its body size.
Speaker 1: Black bears have longer ears, and the facial differences don't
Speaker 1: stop there. If you were to somehow draw a line
Speaker 1: from each bear's nose to the space between its eyes,
Speaker 1: you'd find that brown bears have a more concave face.
Speaker 1: They also have different living habits, whereas black bears climb
Speaker 1: trees throughout their lives. Brown bears stop doing this when
Speaker 1: they grow up. The two species are crafty omnivores who
Speaker 1: will eat a wide range of plant and animal matter,
Speaker 1: and sometimes this means competing for the same resources. A
Speaker 1: British Columbian salmon are hunted by black and brown bears alike.
Speaker 1: Brown bears are a able to kill much larger game
Speaker 1: than their cousins, though black bears can even be on
Speaker 1: their menu. Of course, all of these things are best
Speaker 1: observed from a nice, safe distance. Zoologists consider brown bears
Speaker 1: to be the more aggressive species, but both animals can
Speaker 1: maim and kill human beings. Wall attacks are statistically rare.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to tempt fate by getting too close
Speaker 1: to a wild ersin look up the U S. National
Speaker 1: Park Service Safety Guide to bear encounters if you happen
Speaker 1: to be planning to explore black or brown bears natural habitats.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was based on the article What's the Difference
Speaker 1: between a Brown bear and a Black Bear? On how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com written by Mark Vancini. Brain stuff
Speaker 1: It's production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clay
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