Kodiak bear

"Alaskan brown bear" redirects here. Not to be confused with Alaska Peninsula brown bear.

Kodiak bear
A bear in Kodiak Island, Alaska, US
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. arctos
Subspecies:
U. a. middendorffi
Trinomial name
Ursus arctos middendorffi
Kodiak bear range within Alaska

The Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), also known as the Kodiak brown bear and sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska.[3] It is one of the largest recognized subspecies or population of the brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today, the other being the polar bear.[4][5] They are also considered by some to be a population of grizzly bears.

Physiologically and physically, the Kodiak bear is very similar to the other brown bear subspecies, such as the mainland grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) and the extinct California grizzly bear (U. a. californicus), with the main difference being size, as Kodiak bears are on average 1.5 to 2 times larger than their cousins. Despite this large variation in size, the diet and lifestyle of the Kodiak bear do not differ greatly from those of other brown bears.

Kodiak bears have interacted with humans for centuries, especially hunters and other people in the rural coastal regions of the archipelago.[6] The bears are hunted for sport and are encountered by hunters pursuing other species. Less frequently, Kodiak bears are killed by people whose property (such as livestock) or person are threatened.[7] In recent history there has been an increasing focus on conservation and protection of the Kodiak bear population as human activity in its range increases.[6] The IUCN classifies the brown bear (Ursus arctos), of which the Kodiak is a subspecies, as being of "least concern" in terms of endangerment or extinction, though the IUCN does not differentiate between subspecies and thus does not provide a conservation status for the Kodiak population. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game however, along with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to a lesser extent, closely monitor the size and health of the population and the number of bears hunted in the state.[6]

  1. ^ "IUCN Brown Bear subspecies status". Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Merriam1896 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference factsheet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference fws was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Servheen, C.; Herrero, S.; Peyton, B.; Pelletier, K.; Moll, K.; Moll, J., eds. (1999), Bears: status survey and conservation action plan (PDF), vol. 44, Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23, retrieved 2019-11-20
  6. ^ a b c "Kodiak Archipelago Bear Conservation and Management Plan" (PDF). Alaska Department of Fish and Game. February 2002.
  7. ^ Barnes, Victor G. (1994). "Brown Bear-Human Interactions Associated with Deer Hunting on Kodiak Island". Bears: Their Biology and Management. 9: 63–73. doi:10.2307/3872685. ISSN 1936-0614. JSTOR 3872685.