| 1 | Eurasian brown bear |
The most common brown bear in Eurasia. At its peak, the Eurasian brown bear stretched from Great Britain to deep into the heart of Siberia. Today, they roam from the Pyrenees to Norway to north west Russia. Any news reports coming out of Romania or Slovenia of brown bears pinching chickens or honey will be about the Eurasian brown bear.
It’s also known as the European brown bear, and it’s a medium sized bear with an average male weight of 600 pounds and 400 pounds for females. The heaviest Eurasian brown bear ever was 1060 pounds, well below the Kodiak bear record of 1656 pounds, but easily exceeding the Yellowstone grizzly record of 715 pounds.
This subspecies has a normal bear diet, taking as much meat as it can, but enjoying berries, roots and honey when it can’t. The most obvious visual difference is a rounder skull compared to the grizzly bear or Kamchatka brown bear, and smaller, rounder ears. Their paws and claws are fairly large, and their fur is mostly dark brown, with blond bears uncommon compared to in Alaska, but not unheard of.
The western half of Russia has the highest numbers, but the next ranking countries are Romania (6000), Sweden (3000), and Finland (2000), while Slovakia and Croatia each have 1200.
| 2 | East Siberian brown bear |
This subspecies specialises in being huge. Bears of 1200 pounds or more are common, making them the biggest subspecies in Eurasia. East Siberia is indeed its habitat, spilling over into Mongolia and the far north-west of China. Being common in Russia, you might imagine that the two subspecies would intermingle, but there’s a sharp dividing line with the Eurasian brown bear starting at the Yenisei river, which is Russia’s third longest and runs straight down the middle of Siberia.
This is a very common subspecies, but because its natural habitats are so remote, it’s surprisingly unstudied. Nevertheless, the east Siberian brown bear has a much more aggressive reputation than its Eurasian fellow. They show no qualm in harassing hunters, stalking scientists through the snow, and even breaking into innocent villagers’ homes and stealing their beetroot soup. Most disturbingly, it seems to have no taste for honey – if ever there’s a sign that a bear’s a villain, then that’s it.
The east Siberian bear is one of the darkest subspecies, but there’s a population near the upper Yenisei river which has a shining white colour on an otherwise chocolate-coloured body. Its fur tends to be long and soft (no, they don’t secretly want to be hugged), while their heads are longer, closer in shape to a grizzly bear. There’s also debate about the East Siberian brown bears of Kolyma and Anadyr in Russia’s far east. They’re significantly smaller, and some scientists consider them to be an unidentified subspecies.
| 3 | Kamchatka brown bear |
Ursus arctos beringianus was first classified as a separate subspecies in 1851 by Charles Mittendorfi. This is the huge, mighty bear of the Kamchatkan peninsula of Russia’s far east, a wildlife haven teeming with fish, birds and volcanoes.
The Kamchatka brown bear is still plentiful, with 10,000-14,000 bears inhabiting an area of the size of California. Nevertheless, it ranks with the East Siberian as the most heavily poached subspecies, mainly for their gall bladders, which the Chinese believe have special medical powers. Like Kodiak island, Kamchatka is a capital of salmon, holding 25% of the world’s supplies in July. Consequently, Kamchatka bears commonly reach 1400 pounds in size, rivalling the east Siberian brown bear.
Its skull is broader than bears such as the Ussuri brown bear, and the forehead is steeper. The fur is dark brown, but occasionally with a violet or cinnamon tint. Blond bears aren’t uncommon either. The Kamchatka brown bear isn’t especially aggressive, but it also lives far away from human habitats and rarely becomes addicted to human food.
The Kamchatkan bear is believed to be the direct ancestor of the Kodiak bear, in one wave of migration, while the grizzly bear is believed to have originated from east Siberian brown bears in a separate wave.
| 4 | Ussuri brown bear |
A close relative of the Kamchatka brown bear which has been isolated for long enough to subtly change. This bear most famously controls the Japanese island of Hokkaido, but also the far south east of Russia and northeast China. Appearance wise, its skull is narrower and more elongated, and its fur tends to be darker, even black, which once led biologists to believe it was a black/brown hybrid.
The Ussuri bear once existed on Honshu, the main island of Japan, but died off many an era ago in the late Pleistocene. Nowadays, it is restricted to Hokkaido and the Kuril peninsula islands, which once formed a land bridge from Kamchatka when the sea level was lower during the ice age. This sub-species has a sub population called the Ininkari brown bear which lives on two of the Kuril islands, Kunashiri and Etorofu. This version is unique for its snowy white upper body, which has a sharp dividing line between a blue-grey lower body.
The Ussuri brown bear is a fairly large subspecies. The famous “diagonal slash” bear of the 1915 Sankebetsu killings in Japan weighed an estimated 749 pounds. The Ussuri brown bear also has the distinction of co-existing with the Siberian tiger in north-east China. The latter wins a slight majority of the battles, but only if its initial pounce on the bear’s jugular veins succeeds. Otherwise, the bear tends to win with its greater endurance and smashing club-like paws.
| 5 | Tibetan blue bear |
This cuddly looking bear is said to have a particularly aggressive temperament, raiding the winter homes of yak farmers when they disappear into their mountain lodges for a few months. This bear has a few myths surrounding it: wikipedia claims that’s it’s almost never sighted and is known solely through pelt and fur scraps, but that’s untrue, as captive animals exist in zoos.
Nevertheless, the Tibetan blue bear is a relatively mysterious subspecies. It inhabits the deserted valleys of the eastern Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau, the vast wilderness where Everest climbers used to march through before the Nepalese south side became more popular. Its fur is a brown-blue colour, but with a majestic white colour that circles from neck to chest. This is by far the easiest bear to identify in a Eurasian bear lineup. It’s a medium sized bear and its favourite animal dish is unique to bears: the Himalayan pika, which it burrows into the earth to find in its dens.
This bear can be found in China and Nepal, from the plains to the high mountain peaks: this camera trap image shows a mother and two cubs in a high snow field. The Tibetan blue bear is theorised by some Non-Believers to be the real origin of the yeti folklore, hulking shaggy beasts witnessed by terrified villagers whose legend was only exaggerated by scraps of fur.
| 6 | Himalayan brown bear |
Another Himalayan subspecies, but this time further to the west, including the bulk of Nepal and stretching into Pakistan and north-east India. This subspecies is critically endangered, heavily targeted by poor Pakistani villagers for the valuable gall bladder and with only 200 estimated to remain. Its fur is more of a standard brown, but with a red tinge, and during autumn yellowish tones can temporarily appear. Another name is the Himalayan red bear.
Many Himalayan brown bears have a pale v-shaped mark on their chest too. It’s a relatively small bear, with a small head and rounded ears and a fairly pointy snout. Its temperament is surprisingly peaceful, perhaps because it’s by far the largest mammal in its range and has little competition. However, that doesn’t stop them from pinching goats from angry Pakistani farmers.
During summer, this bear regularly ascends to heights of 5500 metres, well above the highest point in the alps (Mont Blanc). Rather than evolving from each other, it’s believed that the Himalayan and Tibetan blue came in different waves of migrations from the west. The Himalayan brown bear separated from Eurasian brown bears around 658,000 years ago. They were then blocked off by great towering chunks of glacier during the ice age, before the Tibetan blue bear broke off around 342,000 years ago, and were blocked off in a different area of the Himalaya.
| 7 | Gobi bear |
The most endangered subspecies in Eurasia. Gobi bears put the plight of Himalayan brown bears to shame, as there are only 40 remaining as of 2015. The Gobi desert is the world’s 6th biggest and is mostly located in Mongolia. A variety of geographical factors like the Tibetan plateau and the great Siberian anticyclone combine to prevent this place from getting a drop of rainfall, and consequently, there’s very little plant life. However, animals such as black-tailed gazelles, wild ass and wolves still manage to eek out an existence, including the bears, or Mazaalai as Mongolians call them.
The immediate difference is shaggier, more ruffled looking fur compared to the sleekness of a European brown bear. It’s exactly what you’d imagine a desert bear to look like, and the colour is also lighter, with even lighter patches on the chest and neck. With the scarcity of food, the Gobi bear is predictably a bit smaller than others, and one unique feature is rather blunt claws. It’s an extremely vegetarian bear and particularly loves wild onion and rhubarb roots, which it digs for with its long claws.
Things are looking up, as Mongolian ministers made 2013 the year of the Gobi bear. 76 year old Harry Reynolds bear biologist launched the Gobi Bear Project in 2004, and since then numbers have grown from 29 to 40, with the helping hand of winter food dumps and GPS tracking collars. Yet the Gobi bear also has the least genetic diversity of any brown bear subspecies. This subspecies is still teetering over the edge of oblivion.
| 8 | Syrian brown bear |
The Middle East’s own loveable bear subspecies, and one with several special features. Firstly, it’s the subspecies which most commonly has a lighter coloured coat. Brown ones exist, such as Wotjek the famous WW2 military bear, but light sandy brown is common, as is a brown/blond combination of hairs which makes your eyes feel funny. This adaption occurred to help it blend in with the desert, and without human interference, the proportion of blond ones would have probably increased over the millennia.
Secondly, the Syrian brown bear is the only subspecies to have white claws. Finally, it’s the smallest subspecies in Eurasia, with males averaging at just 450 pounds to the females’ 300 pounds. The Syrian brown bear can be found in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, and maybe, just maybe, Syria itself. Paw prints in the snow were observed in the anti-Lebanon mountains of northwest Syria in 2004, and again in 2011.
The Syrian brown bear is commonly hunted in Iran for its fur, which sells for $2000 at town marketplaces. Its existence was reconfirmed in Iraq by a US soldier flying overhead in a helicopter back in 2003, and numerous historical references to docile bears being led into the golden palaces of pharaohs hint that they once roamed Egypt as well.
| 9 | Marsican brown bear |
Italy has two populations of brown bear. The first is an 80 strong pool of Eurasian brown bears in the southern alps of Italy’s far north, which was a reintroduction from Slovenia in 1999. The second is the Marsican brown bear. This potential subspecies lives in the Apennine mountains in central Italy, in the 190 square mile Abruzzo National park about 40km east of Rome. This is a place not of towering mountains, but rolling forested hills, cosy fields and swamps.
We say potential subspecies, because there’s a still continuing debate. Some biologists consider this to be a Eurasian brown bear, but others dub it Ursus arctos marsicanus, pointing to evidence that it diverged well over 5000 years ago. The Marsican bear is unusually shy and docile – all the aggressive bears have died out due to living in close proximity to human settlements. Its fur tends to be darker with a lighter coloured head, and it’s slightly smaller than its cousins, with males averaging at 478 pounds and females at 310 pounds.
Unlike in north Italy, this bear never fully died out, but with only 60 bears remaining, the Marsican brown bear is also critically endangered. Nevertheless, numbers have recovered significantly from a low of 40 in 2005. Efforts include building reflective surfaces into highways to warn bears of approaching car lights, removing 24km of barbed wire fencing, and upgrading water storage tanks which 3 bears once drowned in.
| 10 | Atlas bear |
The only extinct brown bear subspecies on this list. Nevertheless, the Atlas bear existed well into modern times, even the 1950s if the wildest rumours are to be believed. This was the North African brown bear, residing in modern day Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. No living person knows precisely what the Atlas bear looked like. No pictures were ever taken, and amazingly, no museum specimens were ever preserved. Reports suggest that the atlas bear had reddish-brown fur on its underbelly, with a shorter than average muzzle and snout, but a weight of up to 1000 pounds.
As recently as the 1990s, biologists dismissed the whole concept of a North African bear, blaming the sightings on escaped bears imported by the Romans, but fossilised bones dating back to 600BC disproved their theories. Reports of Atlas bears were common in the early 1800s, but sightings fell off a cliff around 1860. Kidnapping by the Romans for battles in colosseums with bestiari is commonly blamed, but hunting by the local berber was much more important, particularly when modern firearms were invented – some hunters claimed to have personally killed 25.
The last recorded sighting was in 1870, but the species almost certainly persisted for another few years, or even decades, in isolated mountain pockets. Ultimately, it joined the barbary lion as a great extinct mammal of this region.
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