WildFact
›
General Section
›
Debate and Discussion about Wild Animals
The "King" of the bears - comparison between the Polar bear and the Brown bear
The "King" of the bears - comparison between the Polar bear and the Brown bear
|
The "King" of the bears - comparison between the Polar bear and the Brown bear
|
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/...-far-east/
If you can get past the concept that all grizzlies are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzlies—a source of great confusion to some—there is an opportunity to learn about the most wide-ranging species of bear in the world, and one of the most wide-ranging mammals on Earth. Although “grizzly bear” is used interchangeably with “brown bear” up here in Alaska, “grizzly bear” really refers to any brown bear found in interior North America. Bears found within interior regions of Alaska and Canada as well as remnant interior populations in the western portion of the contiguous US are grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). There are only about 1200 grizzly bears found in the lower 48. They primarily exist in designated Recovery Zones in Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Idaho. Bears of other interior regions and sometime even coastal zones in Eurasia may be referred to as grizzlies, to add to the confusion. In contrast, there are approximately 32,000 brown bears living in Alaska. Some of Alaska’s islands like Admiralty Island in the Southeast part of the state and the Kodiak Archipelago off the southern coast of mainland Alaska are home to some of the densest populations of brown bears in the world. Kodiak is home to about 3400 brown bears of a particularly large subspecies. The the Kodiak brown bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi) is often touted as the largest terrestrial carnivore on the planet. Because of access to an abundance of fish Alaska’s coastal brown bears, similar to the Kodiak, can attain weights upwards of 1400 pounds. Here at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, we currently have Alaska coastal bears, a grizzly, and Kodiak brown bears, as well as two American black bears. Most of these are permanent residents at the facility. Kamchatka brown bear feeding on Pacific salmon (Nat Geo Archives) Just across the Bering Strait from Alaska lives another gigantic brown bear–the Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) or the Far Eastern brown bear. Considered to be the ancestor of the Kodiak, the Kamchatka brown bears are dark brown and the largest carnivorans in Eurasia. These are the bears that were featured in the PBS special Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia. The film documents the work of Charlie Russel and Maureen Ebbs–two naturalists who sought to discover some insight into the lives of the bears of the famed Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia. The black grizzly or Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus) is another big bear occasionally attaining a size greater than the Kamchatka brown bear. These bears are found in the Amur and Ussuri River regions of the Russian Far East, northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. In the Amur region these bears cross paths with Siberian (Aumr) tigers on rare occasions, primarily because there are so few Siberian tigers left in the world. Tiger attacks on bears have been reported when the bears were in hibernaculum as well while ambulatory. Supposedly, the brown bears are attacked with more frequency than the smaller Asiatic black bears because of habitat preference and an inability to climb trees. But these bears also attack the typically smaller tigers on occasion. The bears are more commonly known to track tigers, following the big cats’ foot prints to ungulate kills, where they ultimately force the cat off the carcass, taking possession of it. “Huang Di” which translates in Chinese to “King” is the name of the celebrity Ussuri brown bear (Manchurian brown bear) who calls the San Diego Zoo his home. Nicknamed “Blackie,” Huang Di is one of the largest and most beautiful bears I have ever seen. The black bear is a gentle giant, standing nearly 5 ft at the shoulders and weighing in at nearly 900 lbs. Today his enclosure sits adjacent to two young brother grizzlies. When I last visited Huang Di who was born at the Bejing Zoo in 1984 he lumbered over toward the large metal divider, that when closed, safely separated the younger bears from the big Ussuri brown bear in the adjacent bear grotto. Smell or sound of this gigantic boar in their proximity sent them scrambling to a distant hiding place on the other side of their enclosure. Click here for a photo of Huang Di (A.K.A. Blackie). Jordan is an ex officio council member of the International Association for Bear Research & Management and member of the Coordinating Committee for the Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (World Conservation Union).
Huang Di which translates to "King" in Chinese - Nicknamed "blakie."
  (10-14-2014, 09:46 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote:(10-13-2014, 09:54 PM)'GrizzlyClaws' Wrote:Wow, that is very interesting. Could you put the source please?(10-12-2014, 11:01 PM)'sanjay' Wrote: I have question, Is Kodiak and Coastal brown bears are different ? If yes which one is larger ? Brother Bear already has the information. BTW, i see very little difference between the Manchurian Brown Bear and the American Grizzly Bear, and the genetic difference is between these two is probably as large as the difference between the Caspian Tiger and the Amur Tiger.
[b]I'm not at all certain how much of this can be confirmed: Bart the Bear is said to have weighed 1,500 pounds ( 680 kg ). Goliath is said to have weighed in excess of 2,000 pounds; 1 ton ( 907 kg ). Clyde, it is said, was weighed in at 2,136 pounds ( 968.9 kg ). Both Goliath and Clyde were zoo Kodiak bears.
Expedition Wild with Casey Anderson: * Bears in Yellowstone National Park can stand about 100 centimetres ( 3 ft. 3 in. ) at the shoulder when on all fours and weigh about 275 kilograms ( 606 lbs. ). * Coastal brown bears can stand 112 centimetres ( 3 ft. 8 in. ) tall at the shoulder when on all fours and weigh 410 kilograms ( 904 lbs. ) or more. * A Kodiak bear can stand more than 140 centimetres ( 4 ft. 7 in. ) tall at the shoulder when on all fours and weigh more than 630 kilos ( 1,389 lbs. ).
~~While I have often made it clear that I do not believe in having any numbers carved in stone as the exact average size of any animal species; still we can find rough averages.
Average mature male polar bear: length roughly 2.36 m ( 7 feet 9 inches ) - shoulder height roughly 1.21 m ( 48 inches or 4 feet ) - weight roughly from 385 to 408 kg ( 850 to 900 pounds ). Average Foxe Basin polar bear weighs roughly 590 kg ( 1,300.7 pounds ).Average mature male Kodiak bear: length roughly 2.43 m ( 8 feet ) - shoulder height roughly 1.23 m ( 52 inches or 4 feet 4 inches ) - weight roughly from 476 to 532 kg ( 1,049 to 1,173 pounds ). In comparison, there is very little difference in the size of the average mature male Kodiak bear and the average mature male polar bear; even in regards to the Foxe Basin bears. It is ( in my opinion ) very much like comparing the Siberian tiger to the Bengal tiger. However, we must remember that only those brown bears living within ideal environments can compare so closely with the polar bears. 
These two cannot be separated. At parity I'd back the brown bear, but polar bears tend to be a bit larger on average. I have no idea, really.
Now if a polar bear met a brown bear in real life, I would most certainly bet on the polar bear if it was forced to fight, only because the tundra grizzlies (which are the only type of brown bear likely to meet a polar bear) tend to be much, much smaller than polar bears and kodiaks.
http://www.boone-crockett.org/bgrecords/...ype=SKULLS
While I believe that the average mature male specimens of the polar bears and the Alaskan brown bears including the kodiak bears are fairly equal in size, I do believe that those individual polar bears reaching a maximum size range are significantly larger than even the biggest brown bear. In knowing that at size parity, the brown bear has a larger skull, I was surprized to see that there is little difference in the record polar bear skull and that of the record brown bear. 
Thanks for the data Brotherbear. Sadly that there is no picture of the record polar bear.
I will add some data from Bone Clones © that could help us to have a wider idea of the diferences in the skulls of these two giants.
Guinness World Records 2015 - Largest terrestrial carnivore - The polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) weighs 880 to 1,320 pounds ( 400 to 600 kg ) and is 7 feet 10 inches to 8 feet 6 inches ( 2.4 to 2.6 m ) long. It feeds on the largest prey, killing walruses up to 1,100 pounds ( 500 kg ) and beluga whales of 1,322 pounds ( 600 kg ) to fill a stomach capacity of ca. 150 pounds ( 68 kg ) or 9 pounds ( 4 kg ) more than an adult human male.
For those searching the page where is mentioned the evolution of the polar bear, here is the link:
http://polarbearscience.com/2014/05/10/e...ars-arose/ Very interesting, take your time to read it. [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img] (10-23-2014, 08:09 PM)'GuateGojira' Wrote: For those searching the page where is mentioned the evolution of the polar bear, here is the link: From the common theory that i've heard before, the Polar Bear was evolved from a group of the ancient Siberian Brown Bear, and it was an extreme example of the adaptive evolution where they were forcing to become more carnivorous by feeding on the seals on the ice cap.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/05/0...zzly-bear/
Alaska hunter bags world record grizzly bear Larry Fitzgerald and a pal were moose hunting near Fairbanks, Alaska, when they came across fresh bear tracks in the snow. Three hours later, the auto body man had taken down the grizzly that left the prints, an enormous bruin that stood nearly 9 feet tall and earned Fitzgerald a place in the record books. Although Fitzgerald shot the bear last September, Boone and Crockett, which certifies hunting records, has only now determined the grizzly, with a skull measuring 27 and 6/16ths inches, is the biggest ever taken down by a hunter, and the second largest grizzly ever documented. Only a grizzly skull found by an Alaska taxidermist in 1976 was bigger than that of the bear Fitzgerald bagged. "I'm not really a trophy hunter, or anything," Fitzgerald, 35, told FoxNews.com. "But I guess it is kind of cool." Fitzgerald brought down the bear from 20 yards, with one shot to the neck from his Sako 300 rifle. He said he and hunting buddy Justin Powell knew from the tracks he was on the trail of a massive grizzly, but only learned this week that he held a world record. "We knew it was big," he said. "It was a rush." Bears are scored based on skull length and width measurements, and Missouloa, Mont.-based Boone and Crockett trophy data is generally recognized as the standard. Conservationists use the data to monitor habitat, sustainable harvest objectives and adherence to fair-chase hunting rules. Richard Hale, chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club's Records of North American Big Game committee, said it was unusual that such a massive grizzly would be taken near a a city. "One would think that a relatively accessible area, with liberal bear-hunting regulations to keep populations in line with available habitat and food, would be the last place to find one of the largest grizzly bears on record," said Hale. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game instituted grizzly hunting regulations to help balance and control the bears' preying on moose. Although baiting is allowed under the regulations, Fitzgerald stalked his trophy. Grizzlies are currently federally protected in the Lower 48 states under the Endangered Species Act, but thriving populations have prompted regulators to consider de-listing them, said Hale. 
live cam of a very Massive bear (Dubbed Lurch - scientific name 814) from the Katmai National Park
 *This image is copyright of its original author http://explore.org/live-cams/player/brow...ooks-falls this bear has a few deaths linked to him and is one of the larger bears from Katmai National Park. Here's 480 aka Otis (the biggest bear I've seen from Katmai National Park) http://explore.org/live-cams/player/brow...ooks-falls
Guate Gojira, I just want to let you know that I am still interested in the skull comparisons. I am not trying to rush you, simply saying that I and I'm sure a few others have not lost interest. Thank you.
|
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 4 Guest(s) |