Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear is a large subspecies of brown bear found across parts of Alaska, western Canada and the northwestern United States, distinguished by a pronounced shoulder hump of muscle, long claws adapted for digging, and grizzled fur tips that give it its common name. It is an opportunistic omnivore with a varied diet that shifts seasonally between grasses, roots, berries, insects, fish such as salmon during spawning runs, and occasional predation on large mammals including elk and moose calves. Grizzlies require vast home ranges and are generally solitary except for mothers with cubs, entering a den for winter dormancy in colder parts of their range where food becomes scarce. Once found across much of western North America, the grizzly range contracted sharply after widespread hunting and habitat loss following European settlement, and populations in the contiguous United States remain federally protected. Alaska and parts of Canada retain large, healthy grizzly populations, and cautious recovery efforts continue in some of the former U.S. range.