Subspecies and Morphs of Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)
Because of their wide range, brown bears have adapted to different areas and subspecies often have very distinct looks. Even in a single region with a single subspecies, color can vary greatly from individual to individual.
Kodiak (Ursus arctos middendorffi) bears, especially females, can come in this vibrant orange shade. This is the largest subspecies.
This grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) has a beautiful silver grey saddle contrasting with it’s nearly black limbs and lightly brown tinged head.
An almost platinum blond grizzly female with light cinnamon limbs.
A European brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) with a sandy head perched on top of brown body with dark limbs.
The ussuri (Ursus arctos lasiotus) is an Asian subspecies, often times black in color. This Chinese example has a jet black body, with a dark brown-black head.
Another ussuri, it’s orange-brown halo and white chest marking pop against it’s dark coat.
An Ininkari brown bear (Ursus arctos ?) from an area where this morph is unique; a creamy light upper half and blue-grey bottom. This one appears to have blue eye patches as well.
This beautiful Himalayan (Ursus arctos isabellinus) has noticeably large and furry ears. It might just be me, but I can almost see hints of lavender in it’s light brown coat where darker fur is mixed in.
Even lighter, the Syrian (Ursus arctos syriacus) seems to be the most consistently light subspecies. Hardly brown, they all seem to be more of a creamy sandy color.
The very rare Tibetan Blue’s (Ursus arctos pruinosus) dark morph is beautiful, and makes up for the lack of images for the light morph. A light orange-sandy head, white right around it’s chest and neck, and dark blue-grey body isn’t what comes to mind when you think “brown bear”.
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