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The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. It is one of the largest living terrestrial members of the order Carnivora, rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on average. Adults of different subspecies range in weight from 80 to 600 kg (180 to 1,320 lb), with males being heavier than females. Despite its name, brown bears aren't entirely brown; the pelage can be reddish to yellowish-brown, and dark brown to cream in color. During winter, brown bears in some populations hibernate and emerge during spring to regain up to 180 kg (400 lb) of weight. They have well developed dentition and claws, ideal for their lifestyle. The brown bear is mostly found in forested habitats, and can be found in elevations of 5,000 m (16,000 ft). It is omnivorous, and consumes a variety of plant and animal species; with the former comprising 90% of its diet. The bear hunts animals as small as rodents, to animals as large as moose or muskoxen. In parts of coastal Alaska, brown bears predominately feed on spawning salmon that come ashore to lay their eggs. The brown bear is a solitary animal, except in the breeding season. Females protect their young for an average of 1.5 to 4.5 years. Brown bears have one of the largest skulls of any land-based carnivore, and are able to make use of tools. They are long lived animals, with an average lifespan of 25 years in the wild. Attacks on humans, though reported, are generally rare. While the brown bear's range has shrunk, and it has faced local extinctions across its wide range, it remains listed as a least concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with a total estimated population in 2017 of 110,000. Populations that were hunted to extinction in the 19th and 20th centuries are the Atlas bear of North Africa and the Californian, Ungavan and Mexican populations of the grizzly bear of North America. Many of the populations in the southern parts of Eurasia are highly endangered as well. One of the smaller-bodied forms, the Himalayan brown bear, is critically endangered, occupying only 2% of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its body parts. The Marsican brown bear of central Italy is one of several currently isolated populations of the Eurasian brown bear and is believed to have a population of just c. 50 bears. Etymology The brown bear is sometimes referred to as the bruin, from Middle English. This name originated in the fable History of Reynard the Fox translated by William Caxton from Middle Dutch bruun or bruyn, meaning brown (the color). In the mid-19th century United States, the brown bear was termed "Old Ephraim" and sometimes as "Moccasin Joe". The scientific name of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, comes from the Latin ursus, meaning "bear", and the Greek ἄρκτος/arktos, also meaning "bear". Evolution and taxonomy Evolution The brown bear is one of eight extant species in the bear family Ursidae and of six extant species in the subfamily Ursinae. During the Pleistocene, brown bears were sympatric with extinct Ursinae species in North America. Brown bears are thought to have evolved from Ursus etruscus in Asia. The brown bear, per Kurten (1976), has been stated as "clearly derived from the Asian population of Ursus savini about 800,000 years ago; spread into Europe, to the New World." A genetic analysis indicated that the brown bear lineage diverged from the cave bear species complex approximately 1.2–1.4 million years ago, but did not clarify if U. savini persisted as a paraspecies for the brown bear before perishing. The oldest fossils positively identified as from this species occur in China from about 0.5 million years ago. Brown bears entered Europe about 250,000 years ago and North Africa shortly after. Brown bear remains from the Pleistocene period are common in the British Isles, where amongst other factors, they may have contributed to the extinction of cave bears (Ursus spelaeus). Brown bears (along with lions, bison and red foxes) first emigrated to North America from Eurasia via Beringia during the Illinoian Glaciation. Although Björn Kurtén hypothesized skull shape as an indicator of evolutionary history, genetic evidence suggests several different populations of brown bear migrated into North America, aligning with the glacial cycles of the Pleistocene. The founding population of most North American brown bears arrived first, with the genetic lineage developing around ~177,000 BP, with fossils being first recovered ~111,000 BP from East Beringia. Genetic divergences suggest brown bears first migrated south during MIS-5 (~92,000–83,000 BP) upon the opening of the ice-free corridor, with the first fossils being near Edmonton (26,000 BP). The Alexander and Haida Gwaii archipelagoes have a separate lineage, which first appears around 20,000 BP. After a local extinction in Beringia ~33,000 BP, two new but closely related lineages repopulated Alaska and northern Canada from Eurasia after the Last Glacial Maximum (>25,000 BP). Brown bear fossils discovered in Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky and Labrador show that the species occurred farther east than indicated in historic records. In North America, two types of the subspecies Ursus arctos horribilis are generally recognized—the coastal brown bear and the inland grizzly bear. Subspecies Brown bear taxonomy and subspecies classification has been described as "formidable and confusing," with few authorities listing the same specific set of subspecies. There are hundreds of obsolete brown bear subspecies, each with its own name, so this can become confusing. As many as 90 subspecies have been proposed. However, recent DNA analysis has identified as few as five main clades which contain all extant brown bears, while a 2017 phylogenetic study revealed nine clades, including one representing polar bears. As of 2005, 15 extant or recently extinct subspecies were recognized by the general scientific community. As well as the exact number of overall brown bear subspecies, its precise relationship to the polar bear also remains in debate. The polar bear is a recent offshoot of the brown bear. The point at which the polar bear diverged from the brown bear is unclear, with estimations based on genetics and fossils ranging from 400,000 to 70,000 years ago, but most recent analysis has indicated that the polar bear split somewhere between 275,000 and 150,000 years ago. Under some definitions, the brown bear can be construed as the paraspecies for the polar bear. DNA analysis shows that, apart from recent human-caused population fragmentation, brown bears in North America are generally part of a single interconnected population system, with the exception of the population (or subspecies) in the Kodiak Archipelago, which has probably been isolated since the end of the last Ice Age. These data demonstrate that U.... Discover the Elena Foulis popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Elena Foulis books.