Grizzly bears are formidable predators in North America, renowned for their impressive size and strength. They adapt their physical characteristics and behaviors to diverse environments, from dense forests to mountainous terrains, influencing how large individual bears can grow.
The Record-Breaking Grizzly Bear
The largest grizzly bear ever officially recorded was not harvested by a hunter but discovered as a skull in 1976 near Lone Mountain, Alaska. This skull, identified as Gordon E. Scott’s pick-up, was later measured by the Boone and Crockett Club, establishing it as the world record for the grizzly bear category. It measured an impressive 27 and 13/16 inches.
While the bear’s exact live weight and standing height are not definitively recorded, estimates for such large grizzlies often place them around 1,200 pounds. Another notably large grizzly skull, measuring 27 and 6/16 inches, was taken by a hunter in 2013 near Fairbanks, Alaska, becoming the second largest recorded skull.
How Bear Size Records Are Determined
Wildlife biologists and record-keeping organizations primarily rely on skull measurements to accurately record the size of grizzly bears. This method is considered the most reliable because measurements like live weight can fluctuate greatly with season and diet, and hide measurements can be inconsistently affected by stretching or drying. Skull size, however, provides a consistent and verifiable metric for long-term records.
For official scoring, a bear’s skull is cleaned, and the lower jaw is removed, then allowed to dry for a minimum of 30 days. Calipers are used to measure the greatest length of the skull, from the back to the front teeth, along its longitudinal axis. This length is then added to the skull’s greatest width, measured perpendicularly across the cheekbones. The combined sum of these two measurements constitutes the final score, serving as a standardized system for wildlife management and conservation efforts.
Grizzly Bears: A Subspecies of Brown Bears
The term “grizzly bear” specifically refers to a North American subspecies of the broader brown bear species, Ursus arctos horribilis. Brown bears themselves have a wide global distribution, found across North America, Europe, and Asia. While all grizzlies are brown bears, not all brown bears are grizzlies in the common North American usage.
The distinction often relates to habitat and diet; “grizzly” typically denotes the inland populations of brown bears found in areas away from coastal salmon runs. These inland bears generally have a more varied diet of plants, insects, and occasional large prey, leading to a smaller average size, often weighing between 200 and 700 pounds. In contrast, coastal brown bear populations, such as the Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), benefit from abundant, high-protein food sources like salmon, allowing them to grow considerably larger, with some individuals reaching over 1,600 pounds and standing up to 9 or 10 feet tall. Record-keeping bodies, like the Boone and Crockett Club, maintain separate categories for “grizzly bear” and “Alaska brown bear” to account for these significant morphological differences influenced by their distinct environments.