Grizzly Bear
(Ursus arctos horribilis)
In North America there are three types of bear, the Grizzly bear: the Black bear and the Polar bear.
There are two North American subspecies of Grizzly bear. Both are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. Ursus arctos horribilis is the common subspecies and Ursus arctos middendorffi is the Kodiak bear, found on a few Alaskan coastal islands.
Grizzly bears, the focus of this webpage, are very large animals that weigh between 250-700+ pounds. A large male grizzly standing on its hind legs can reach a height of more than 8 feet tall. In Canada they are considered a “species at risk” by both the Provincial and Federal governments.
Over the past few years it has been roughly estimated that 15,000 Grizzly bears exist in British Columbia. This amounts to about 25% of the current North American population. According to the BC government, the Grizzly bear has been extirpated in some central areas of the province as well as the Sunshine Coast, the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island. However, recent sightings of Grizzly bears on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island tell a different story, a story worthy of your attention.
Range
The modern range map, above, shows the current distribution of the three bear species in North America, where today, Grizzly bears can only be found in the north-west.
Historically, large Grizzly bear populations ranged between the Pacific Ocean and the Mississippi River and from Mexico up through the vast Great Plains and up to Alaska. Human western expansion devastated these magnificent bears to the point where their numbers were vastly reduced. In the U.S. between 1850 and 1970, grizzlies were extirpated from 98 percent of their original range because of habitat loss caused by human development and from being hunted by humans. Populations in the lower USA plummeted from an estimated high of 50,000 to a paltry 1,500 - 1,700 today. Because of this dramatic decline, in 1975, Grizzly bears were listed, as threatened under the USA Endangered Species Act. Since then, conservation efforts have resulted in some Grizzly bear population increases in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington.
Today, Grizzly bears are reported in small populations in the aforementioned states, and also possibly in southern Colorado. Viewed geographically, there are estimates of 1000 Grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, and 700 in the Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The 15,000 grizzlies currently living in Western Canada and the 31,000 in Alaska are the last remaining major populations. These populations require huge areas of subalpine mountain forests, woodlands, alpine meadows or arctic and alpine tundra, where plant food and caribou calving grounds are abundant. They also have a preference for riparian areas along rivers and streams where fish and salmon runs are available.
The range map below is a population density map, that depicts Grizzly bears as being extinct or “extirpated” from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast and areas in the east and central Interior. But, as we will discuss later, Grizzly bears are indeed being reported in some of these areas.
All About the Fur
Grizzly bears are essentially large brown bears. The colour range of their fur is from very light tan to dark brown.
These bears have a double coat made with a dense undercoat of shorter fur and an outer coat with longer guard furs. The double coats function to regulate body temperature during the cold and hot seasons. The outer coat grows in winter to preserve body heat and is shed in summer, leaving the darker under coat. This seasonal shedding significantly changes the bear's appearance.
One explanation as to how they became named Grizzly bears may be because with some Grizzly bears their brown outer fur can be tipped with white, which gives them a “grizzled” appearance. Another explanation is that grizzly may be a variant of the word “grisly” meaning disgusting, unpleasant, bloody, absolutely repulsive and horrible.
Anatomy
Full grown males weigh as much as 600-700 pounds. Females are smaller and weigh 250-350 pounds.
Their heads have distinctive “dished face” and their ears are short and rounded.
A distinctive and large shoulder hump anchors large muscles attached to the bear’s backbone. This arrangement gives the bear exceptional strength that can be projected into the long claws on their front feet which are used for digging dens, slashing or for handling food. While these bears may sometimes appear thin and sometimes very fat, they are fundamentally muscular and in this artist depiction their muscle arrangements are impressively highlighted.
The fangs of an adult male Grizzly bear may reach 3 inches in length. However, their omnivorous diet, also requires that they have greatly enlarged molar teeth with surfaces that have adapted to crushing rather than shearing. When they reach mid-20s, their molars begin to wear down to the extent that they become nubs which are almost level with the gums. This can exposed nerves and introduce pain and as this situation worsens these bears may begin to search for easier food to eat.
A Grizzly bear’s teeth aside, it is probably more likely to do damage to an adversary or prey with a swat of their paw.
A Grizzly bear’s forearms are powerful and they routinely roll over huge rocks and logs in search of food. Their paws have gently curved, often light-colored, 2-4 inch-long claws adapted for digging roots, bulbs and rodents as well as excavating a winter den. In combat a single swipe of these claws can be devastating.
Special Habits, Capabilities and Behaviour
Grizzly bears are normally solitary animals except for females during the 2-4 years that it takes to raise their cubs to adulthood.
Grizzlies will sometimes congregate in close proximity to each other when food is exceptionally abundant as is the case during salmon-runs and also at garbage dumps. And, because they are known to tolerate or even share overlapping ranges with other bears, they are not considered to be “territorial animals”.
They communicate using growls, moaning or grunting particularly during mating season when males fight each other to achieve dominance and win a mating opportunity with a receptive female. Females also use vocal communication while raising their young.
Their sense of smell is exceptional and they can detect food over one kilometre away. This advanced sense of smell means they are able to use their own scent to communicate, which they do by rubbing against trees or otherwise marking with urine, anal and feet glands as they move through their territory.
They have better eyesight than humans, and their eyesight is especially effective in that they can detect fish underwater.
Grizzly bears can hear as well as, or better, than humans.
They have a famous habit of standing tall for short periods and this may help them optimize their senses of sight, smell and hearing.
Grizzlies can run as fast as 35 miles an hour in short sprints. This is important to know because humans who try to run away from a Grizzly bear are unlikely to win that race.
They are also excellent swimmers, capable of extended periods in the water which allows them to traverse rivers, lakes and even inland ocean passages. As an example, they have been reported swimming across Johnston Straight between the mainland and Vancouver Island.
Grizzly bears need to consume a large amount of food in the summer and especially during the fall when they must build up sufficient fat reserves to carry them through the winter denning/hibernation period.
Life Cycle
Grizzly bears have few predators except for other grizzly bears and wolves. Their average lifespan is 15 to 20 years with some living more than 30 years,
Of all North American land mammals, Grizzly bears have one of the lowest reproductive rates. This is a culmination of many factors. Females do not begin bearing until they reach 5-9 years. After giving birth they attend to their young and do not breed again for 2-3 years. Fortunately, this cycle may be continued for females who survive into their late 20s.
Mating takes place early-May through to mid-July. Males and females may have multiple mates. When a female becomes pregnant, the development of the embryo temporarily halts. The embryo does not implant in the uterus until November or December, and then only if the bear has enough fat reserves to sustain her and the developing fetuses through hibernation.
This delay means that the total gestation period can ranges between 180-270 days. The birth of cubs, weighing about 500g each, occurs in January or February. The litter can vary between 1-4 cubs with 2-3 being the average. Twins are very common.
Winter can be very difficult and Grizzly bears hibernate in dens to conserve energy while most natural foods are not available. The hibernation den is also the warm and secure cradle where the tiny young are born.
Preparation for hibernation occurs in the summer and autumn and involves the consumption of as much food as possible so as to build-up a good reserve of fat. This process of eating and drinking as much as possible is called hyperphagia.
Later, in the fall these bears will pick a location for their winter-den. This is often on a hillside with associated rock or foliage cover where they dig the hole that will become their winter den. Dens can vary considerably and Grizzlies will hibernate in caves, crevices, hollow trees, or a hollow dug under rock, log, or tree roots. All dens must be well-drained .
Dens
Solitary and pregnant females are the first to enter their dens in the fall followed by females with cubs. Solitary males are the last to enter their dens.
After entering the den, grizzly bears slow down their heart rate, lower body temperature and metabolic activity, and thereafter live off stored fat reserves. If a female bear failed to gain enough weight, her body will not proceed with the pregnancy and the embryo will be reabsorbed. Otherwise, when females commence hibernation, the embryo implants in her uterus and begins gestation.
Hibernation may last up to seven months but these bears do not sleep as deeply as some other hibernators. Grizzly bears will quickly wake up when disturbed.
In January or February, pregnant female grizzly bears give birth to one to four cubs (usually two) that weigh about half a kilogram. The female will care for her young inside the den until spring, when they finally step out into the world weighing about 8 kg.
When warm weather returns, males and females with older cubs are the first to leave their dens in the spring. Females and their newborn cubs are the last to leave their dens.
Development of the Young
Females care for their young for at least two but possibly three to four years. She usually chases them off in June of the third year but this can be delayed if food is scarce.
During this time, the female nurtures, protects and educates her young, which increases their chances of reaching maturity and reproducing. While under their mother's care, offspring learn how to forage and move through the landscape to access seasonal habitats. While young, the cubs can climb trees to evade danger, they lose this ability as their front claws grow longer. Natural mortality is highest for cubs in their first year and this is usually related to nutrition. They are also vulnerable to black bears, wolves, coyotes and cougars. However, once the female reaches breeding condition and males become attracted to her, the cubs are also vulnerable to being killed by male Grizzly bears. Overall, the Cub mortality rate is believed to be roughly 50%
When the mother and her cubs enter their den in the fall of their first year, a healthy young cub may weigh as much as 45kg. Cubs that survive and become mature adults will reach sexual maturity in 5 to 7 years. While Grizzly bears may go on to live for 20-30 years in the wild, many will die at an earlier age in human-caused deaths.
Foraging and Diet
Grizzly bears have about seven months to meet their nutritional requirements for the entire year. They move constantly across the landscape and vertically through various elevations searching for a wide variety of seasonal food sources.
Grizzly bears are classified carnivoran mammals however they hunt and forage as both carnivores and omnivores who eat animals which include mammals, invertebrates, amphibians, fishes and birds, as well as plants, fungi, algae and even soil.
Despite being classified as carnivores, it is believed that meat constitutes only 15 - 20% of their diet. This may include occasional winter-killed wildlife. If the opportunity arises, they are known to hunt newborn calves of elk and other ungulates as well as young bears. They also hunt deer, moose, elk, rodents, and domestic animals such as sheep and cattle.
They not only hunt by giving chase but will also scavenge and dig down in pursuit of subterranean mammals. Fish are hunted with great success in riparian areas of western Canada and Alaska, where salmon is an important food source.
Although meat is only a small percentage of their diet, the protein and fat are important and Grizzly bears will store their carrion by covering it with grass and moss, which serves as a preservative.
As omnivores, these bears feed on a variety of plant life such as seeds, berries, nuts, roots, bulbs, grasses and fungi and even insects etc.
In the early spring, as they emerge from hibernation, they begin a 7 month search for food which
starts in the valley bottoms and then expands to higher elevations as the snow melt continues.
Parks Canada has explained the fascinating 7 month search for food in such detail that we felt obliged to provide you with the following information, primarily quoted from their website, a link for which you can find in our reference section below. If this reads like a menu, thats because it is.
With thanks to Parks Canada
Early spring: When bears leave their dens in late March through April, avalanche chutes and steep sub-alpine grasslands with sunny west and south aspects become snow-free first and support a diversity of grasses and flowering plants. Important food sources include the roots of the legume Hedysarum, and the bulbs of glacier lily and spring beauty and later in spring, Horsetail becomes plentiful beside streams and in wetlands.
Freshly emerging grasses and sedges in meadows, and along streams and rivers at lower elevations, are also important foods. Introduced plants such as clover and dandelion, which green up early along roadsides and disturbed areas, also provide important forage for bears that will risk human presence associated with such sites.
By mid-summer, favoured cow parsnip flourishes on avalanche slopes and moist east and north facing slopes near tree lines. Bears flip rocks to lick up insects such as ants and ant larvae. Insects are also torn out of rotting logs and trees.
Grizzly Bear Menu
Spring-Early Summer:
Hedysarum roots
Glacier lily bulbs
Horsetail
Spring beauty bulbs
Grasses and sedges
Dandelion
Clover
Cow parsnip
Deer, elk or moose calves
Carcasses of winter-killed ungulates
Mid-July to early August: The fruits of berry producing shrubs begin to mature. In the Central Rockies, berries are the important high quality food source for bears. They concentrate their efforts where these sun-loving plants flourish—along dry forest edges and in open forest. On the drier east slopes of the Rocky Mountains, buffaloberry is most common. Near the Great Divide and on the moist west slopes of the Rockies, blueberry and huckleberry shrubs also grow. Burned forests are important sites that support berry producing shrubs and Hedysarum.
Grizzly Bear Menu
LateSummer/Fall:
Buffaloberry
Crowberry
Bearberry
Grouseberry
Currant berries
Blueberry/huckleberry
*Whitebark pine nuts
Hedysarum roots (especially if berry crop fails)
*(in decline due to pine bark beetle infestations, exacerbated by global climate change.)
When low temperatures and frost arrive the larger berries drop and bears turn to the tiny berries of low-growing bearberry, crowberry and grouseberry. Whitebark pine nuts stashed in squirrel caches also provide important calories. Ground squirrels, fat after a summer of feeding, are dug out of their burrows. As winter approaches, bears enter a state called "hyperphagia" and may eat for 20-23 hours a day to store enough fat to survive through hibernation.
During years where the berry crop fails, bears then rely heavily on Hedysarum roots and they must forage more widely and intensely, using precious energy.
Depending on the individual bear and opportunity, they may hunt ground squirrels and marmots, deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, as well as carcasses of dead animals. And, leaving no stone unturned, they will readily consume ants, ant larvae, grubs. In parts of BC where, in summer, army cutworm moths thrive, Grizzlies are known to consume up to 20,000 army cutworm moths a day.
When fewer food options force bears into wider travels, food-stressed bears are more likely to get into improperly stored human garbage and other artificial attractants.
Note: End of material on foraging from Parks Canada
The Sad History of a Species in Decline
Historically, Grizzly bears ranged in suitable climates all around the world. As soon as humans could, they began to kill and capture these bears. Early Romans incorporated Grizzlies into their blood-sport- entertainments in the Colosseum. This popular bear-baiting involving ferocious grizzly vs grizzly, or dogs, and other animals, even gladiators; all proved highly popular to the point where Emperor Gordian, is said to have watched the demise of nearly 1000 bears.
In London, during the16th and 17th centuries, “Beargarden" was an amphitheatre for bear-baiting, bull-baiting, and other animal sports. It eventually fell out of favour and such sports were banned in 1835.
In the New World and the Wild West, Grizzly bears were fair game for hunting. Although out of fashion in Europe, dog baiting, cock fights, and Grizzly baiting took hold and in 19th century California it was the brutal bloodsport called Bull-and-Bear fights that became popular entertainments for the Californians of that time. The “fights”, sometimes with dogs, were held in ”"pits”. The practice proved devastating to the Californian Grizzly; once numbering more than 10,000, it was extinct by 1924.
The Mexican Grizzly bear was not too far behind. It was primarily because cattle farming was emerging, that the Grizzly population count dropped to 30 bears in 1960 and by 1964 they became extinct.
The Bull-and-Bear fights, as vile as they were, seemed to resonate through history mainly because of the different fighting tactics of the two animals. The Grizzly would often stand and take mighty downward swipes with its 4 inch claws, while the bull would charge low and, with a powerful upward thrust of its horns, go for the gore.
If this sounds familiar, like a word on the tip of your tongue you can’t quite remember, that is because the bear and bull fights of California appear to have inspired the modern day colloquialism of Wall Street: “Bull markets’ represent strong upward stock prices and and “Bear markets” represent the clawing away of profit and lower stock prices. Today the basic rhythm of the stock markets oscillates between “bull” and “bear” and such is the reverence for the mighty power of our stock markets, which incidentally has a “pit”, that the bull is honoured today with a statue on Wall Street. Outside the Frankfurt stock exchange is the complete story as it includes the Grizzly bear as you can see below.
The Grizzly bear has had a tough time dealing with humans; and the story is still unfolding in British Columbia. How will we treat them in the time ahead?
Are Grizzly Bears Here on the South Coast?
Although Government of BC data shows the Grizzly Bear to be extinct or extirpated from Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, recent sightings say otherwise.
Sightings have been reported in the news at Whistler and Squamish, Egmont, Sechelt, Gibsons, and on Vancouver Island. Here are a few:
In 2016, the first confirmed Grizzly bear in the Egmont area was shot by a property owner because it was attacking their livestock.
In 2016, a Grizzly bearwas captured in West Sechelt and relocated via helicopter.
In 2019, a Grizzly bear was sighted near Hidden Cove on Vancouver Island.
In June 2023 the B.C. Conservation Officer Service spotted a Grizzly bear in the Port McNeill area of Vancouver Island.
August 16, 2024, Global News reported Grizzlies somwhere around the north end of Vancouver Island
Sept 2024, a young male Grizzly bear was relocated from Gibsons area after it moved into an urban environment to access human food waste.
Sept 26, 2024, a Grizzly bear spotted on the beach in downtown Sechelt and Mission Park/Chapman Creek, where it was immobilized.
While there are likely more Grizzly bear sightings, many are not reported and verified.
Recently a few comments were heard about Grizzly in the Garden Bay Area but so far we have not been able to verify this. If anyone does see a Grizzly in the future please contact the Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) and send us an email too so we can update this page.
So How Are Grizzly Bears Doing in British Columbia?
Following centuries of world-wide excessive human exploitation over-hunting and destruction of habitat due to human interaction and development, there are less than 1,500 grizzlies left in the lower United States. Next-door in the State of Washington, where in the early 1800s, that state’s North Cascades Ecosystem (NCE) was home to thousands of grizzly bears, that population was recently numbered to be fewer than 10 making that state home to the most-at-risk grizzly bears in North America. A 2016 Skagit environmental report maintains that NCE, with its 2.5 million acres of federally designated wilderness, has the resources and the space to support about 280 grizzly bears.
Grizzly bears are listed as a species of ‘Special Concern’ by our federal government. In British Columbia, they are ranked as S3 meaning a species of: “special concern, vulnerable to extirpation or extinction”. Accordingly, the Grizzly Bear population in British Columbia has been divided, administratively into 55 Grizzly Bear Population Units.
In 2001, the BC-NDP government placed a three-year embargo on Grizzly hunting, but the hunt was reinstated that same year after the BC Liberals took power.
In 2017, BC’s Auditor General, A.G. Bellringer, found that the greatest risk to grizzly bears was not hunters, but rather, it was the degradation of grizzly bear habitat. The A.G. found that the expansion of development in oil and gas, forestry and human settlement made it more difficult for grizzly bears to mate, and also resulted in the loss of food sources, as well as more human-bear conflict. Specifically, increases in resource-roads from the existing 600,000 kms and with more added every year, will result in more human-bear conflict, and grizzly bear deaths.
On December 18, 2017, the BC Government announced a complete ban on hunting grizzly bears. The hunting season for grizzly bears in British Columbia was permanently closed.
Note: In BC, prior to the hunting ban, hunters reportedly killed around 300 grizzly bears a year, which was a harvest equivalent to roughly 2% of the grizzly population.
2020 the government produced a document, “Grizzly Bear Population Estimate for 2018” which identified an overall drop in the Grizzly bear population as follows:
2004: 17,000
2008: 16,000
2012: 12,000
2018: 15,000
It has since been stated that the Grizzly bear hunt ban is the most intensively managed hunt of any species in the province. However without an accurate census of Grizzly bear population trajectories in recent years, it is difficult to identify what outcomes have actually been achieved or in what ways is global climate change is affecting these bears.
No longer is a simple code or colour likely to be useful or even possible to categorize the conservation state of this species. Instead the link below provides a portal into the 55 Grizzly bear Population Units where you will find greater insight into the complex issues and actions that lie ahead.
Grizzly Bear Conservation Ranking in B.C.
https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/soe/indicators/plants-and-animals/grizzly-bears.html
Not surprisingly, pressure to remove the hunting ban has arisen along with recent suggestions to decentralize the issue by granting regional authority over Grizzly bears hunting.
While all this is up in the air, it is possible that the public interest may be deflected away from the many important challenges and unresolved challenges such as, habitat degradation by development, logging, road building, oil and gas drilling, livestock grazing and other resource exploitation. Highways, roads and railways are all hazards to Grizzly bears. It is at these hazardous human-built corridors that most Grizzly bears die in tragic numbers. The question arises, will the public be distracted by the issue of hunting and fail to support the more important needs outline above as well as for connective range access, roadway fencing and over/underpasses to provide protection from traffic, along with, a host of other very do-able improvements that will benefit both humans and our animal neighbours.
Adaptable but Slow to Reproduce
On the positive side, Grizzly bears are well understood to be an adaptable species. As global climate changes arrive, it is the bear’s adaptability that will hopefully allow them to navigate changes in their habitat such that they find a way to survive.
On the other side, Grizzly bears reproduce rather slowly and their cubs have a survivability rate around 50%. This means they cannot, as a species, absorb a lot of abuse or mortality caused by humans as has happened though history.
So it is really up to humans to tip the scale in favour of our neighbour, the Grizzly Bear!
You will need a couple of cups for this outstanding summary of our subject Grizzly Bears. This is an engaging presentation by large-mammal researcher Dr. Bruce McLellan, who explores the status of Grizzlies in British Columbia and examines why the hunt ended. Up to date and colourful, you will appreciate this insightful, behind-the-scenes overview of the history of these bears in BC and the continuing work to understand and protect a them.
References
WildSafe BC, https://wildsafebc.com/species/grizzly-bear/
Parks Canada, https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/mtn/ours-bears/generaux-basics/grizzli-grizzly
Get Bearsmart, https://www.bearsmart.com/about-us/
BC Government, wildlife-conservation info on Grizzly Bear,
Environmental Reporting BC. (Data circa 2020). Grizzly Bear Population Ranking in B.C. State of Environment Reporting, Ministry of Environment, British Columbia, Canada, https://www.env.gov.bc.ca/soe/indicators/plants-and-animals/grizzly-bears.html
BC Government, Environmental Protection and Sustainability, Wildlife Stewardship, Grizzly Bear, Updated 2024, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/wildlife/wildlife-conservation/grizzly-bear
Predator Statistics: Grizzly bear, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/wildlife/human-wildlife-conflict/predator-statistics-grizzly-bear
BC Nature, Since 1969 BC’s collective voice for nature conservation, https://bcnature.org/
BC Grizzley Study - 2013: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2013FLNR0239-001911
Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework, https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/engagement/grizzly-bear-stewardship-framework/#:~:text=The Provincial Grizzly Bear Stewardship,Individuals
Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance (primarily focused on Black Bears), https://www.scbearalliance.com/get-involved
The Ministry of Forests, A draft stewardship framework for Grizzly Bears, https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/engagement/grizzly-bear-stewardship-framework/#:~:text=The Provincial Grizzly Bear Stewardship,Individuals
Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Living, https://www.hopemountain.org/grizzly-bear-monitoring
National Wildlife Foundation, https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Grizzly-Bear
Vital Ground Foundation: https://www.vitalground.org/about-grizzly-bears-connected-landscapes/
Life Cycle of Bears, https://www.sciencing.com/life-cycle-grizzly-bears-6663039/