Bear
MammalCarnivoraOmnivore
Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) hunting salmon — used here as a reference image for the broader bear profile.
Image: marneejill, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Overview
Bears are large mammals of the family Ursidae, with eight living species: brown bear, American black bear, Asian black bear, polar bear, sun bear, sloth bear, spectacled bear, and giant panda. They are members of the order Carnivora but exhibit a remarkable range of dietary strategies, from the largely herbivorous giant panda to the heavily carnivorous polar bear.
Habitat & Range
Bears occupy strikingly different habitats. Polar bears are circumpolar Arctic specialists associated with sea ice. Brown bears are widely distributed across northern Eurasia and North America in forests, tundra, and mountain habitats. Spectacled bears occupy Andean cloud forest. Sun bears and sloth bears are tropical forest species. Giant pandas are restricted to bamboo forests in mountainous parts of central China.
Diet
Most bears are omnivores. Brown bears and American black bears, for example, commonly consume berries, nuts, roots, insects, fish (notably salmon during spawning runs), and ungulate prey or carrion as opportunity allows. Sloth bears specialise in termites and ants. Polar bears are predominantly carnivorous and hunt seals, particularly ringed seals. Giant pandas are almost exclusively bamboo-eaters despite their carnivoran ancestry.
Behavior
Most adult bears are solitary outside of breeding and mother-cub care. Several species — including brown bears and American black bears in temperate and northern regions — enter a state of winter dormancy (often loosely called hibernation) characterised by metabolic suppression, lowered body temperature, and survival on stored fat reserves. Polar bears do not hibernate, although pregnant females enter dens for cub-rearing.
Human Interaction & Conservation
Conservation status varies substantially by species. Polar bears are particularly threatened by climate change and the loss of sea ice. Sun bears and sloth bears face significant habitat loss and trade pressures. Brown bears and American black bears include some populations that are relatively secure and others that are highly threatened. Status should always be checked species-by-species on the IUCN Red List.
Appearance & Recognition
Bears share a heavily built body, a broad head with relatively small rounded ears, a short tail, and a plantigrade stance in which they walk on the whole sole of the foot — a feature that produces the characteristic flat heavy footprint and contributes to the species' ability to stand upright on the hind legs to investigate or threaten. The coat is dense and species-specific: uniform brown across most populations of the brown bear, near-black across most American black bears (though some Pacific Northwest individuals are cinnamon or chocolate), pure white-to-cream in the polar bear, and a pale crescent or V-shape on the chest in Asian black and sun bears.
Body silhouette is itself an identification cue. Adult brown bears typically show a pronounced shoulder hump of muscle that American black bears lack — useful when range overlaps, for example in parts of western North America. Spectacled bears carry pale "spectacle" markings around the eyes; sloth bears have shaggy black fur and a paler V on the chest. Because so much varies between the eight living species, range, build, and coat together are more reliable identification cues than colour alone.
Similar Animals
Bears are part of the order Carnivora, which also includes felids (cats), canids (dogs), and mustelids (weasels and otters). Despite the name, the giant panda is a true bear, not a separate family. Koalas, sometimes called "koala bears", are marsupials and not bears at all.
More photos of the bear
Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) — one of the eight living bear species, distinct from the grizzly in the hero image.
Image: Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Polar bear walking across pack ice.
Image: Andreas Weith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.