About Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear or silvertip is a subspecies of Brown Bear. Grizzly bear are large bears with males reaching between 500-1,000 pounds and females in the range 300-800 pounds. Grizzly Bears are typically brown in color, but maybe dark brown, near black to a golden blonde. Grizzlies have a large hump above their shoulders. Many southerners mistake brown colored black bears as grizzlies, if you're not sure look for the hump.

Keep a good distance from a grizzly bear with cubs. They are extremely protective. Other signs to watch for while observing bears are; snorting (bears will clear their nostrils to try and better fix in on what they're seeing/hearing), grunting (usually a sign to back off), if their shoulders are raised and they're looking at you back away they're not happy, if they stand remain calm they're trying to better observe you. Most importantly each bear has its own personality, you maybe able to get within of 15 feet of a grizzly used to people where as others you maybe dead if you're within 100 feet of them at the wrong time. Each bear and each instance can be a polar difference.

Except while feeding or mating Grizzlies are solitary bears, other than that a sow maybe accompanied by her one to four cubs (normally two) which may accompany her for up to two years. Grizzly Bears are found throughout the entire mainland of Alaska and most densely along the coast. Alaska fish and game refers to these bears as Coastal Brown Bears if they are within 50 miles of the coast, they tend to be a little larger than inland grizzles they are the same subspecies they just have more protein in their diets accounting for the larger size.

The word "grizzly" in its name refers to "grizzled" or grey hairs in its fur, but when naturalist George Ord formally named the bear in 1815, he misunderstood the word as "grisly", to assign its biological Latin sub specific name "horribilis.”

Grizzly Bears do not reach sexual maturity until they are at least 5 years old. Even though mating is completed in summer, females are able to post-pone embryo(s) implantation until they go into hibernation, at which time the embryo(s) will continue to develop if the female has enough stored nutrition to make it through hibernation. If not embryos will begin to abort. After birth cubs biggest dangers are male grizzlies which will kill cubs which are not theirs and may even eat them.