A huge, mostly plant-eating bear of northern forests, mountains and tundra, and one of the largest land carnivores alive. Grizzlies and Kodiak bears are brown bears too.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?Yes
It usually avoids people and rarely attacks on sight, but its temper is unpredictable.
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?Yes
Not a full hibernator: it dens up for the winter and lives off its fat, but it can be woken easily.
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?In places
Once used for meat and hides, but now hunted mainly as a trophy.
At a glance
Found inNorth America, Europe, Asia
HabitatForest, Mountains, Grassland
ColoursBrown
SizeHuge
Length1–2.8 m
Weight80–600 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for20–25 years
Can swim
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Northern North America, Europe and Asia. It lives in a wider range of habitats than any other bear, with small, fragmented populations left in western Europe.
- What it eats
- Mostly grass, roots, berries and nuts, plus insects, fish such as salmon, and mammals from rodents up to moose.
- Conservation
- Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
Does not truly hibernate — it dozes and can wake up.
It can put on up to 180 kg of fat between summer and autumn to see it through the winter.
Often confused with
- Grizzly bear
Same species: “grizzly” is the name for inland North American brown bears. Every grizzly is a brown bear, but not every brown bear is a grizzly.
Compare side by side - Black bear
Go by shape, not colour: a brown bear has a muscular shoulder hump; a black bear has none.
Compare side by side
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