The greatest bear ever
The greatest bears of all time are already extinct. They are cave bears. Compared to them, today's largest species appear small: Kodiak bears from Alaska. Huge specimens also live on Kamchatka and the polar bear doesn't have to hide either. The males are significantly larger than the females.
1. Kodiak bears can weigh 700 kilograms and more
The largest bears today are Kodiak bears. They live on the Kodia Islands off the south coast of Alaska. Individual males can weigh up to 780 kilograms. They are then about 2.80 meters long and 1.50 meters high. However, they are not the greatest bears of all time. The Kodiak bear is a subspecies of the brown bear. Its scientific name is Ursus arctos middendorffi. As the largest land-based predators on earth, the formidable animals have become a tourist attraction. You are strictly protected. Nevertheless, a set number of bears can be hunted. It is assumed that around 3,000 animals are currently alive (as of 2014).
2. The polar bear as a giant of the Arctic
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) can also weigh up to 800 kilograms. A length of 3.50 meters has already been observed in them. However, even with bears, the giants are the exception. The average weighs around 450 kilograms. The lonely giants of the Arctic are suffering badly from climate change. This melts the ice and endangers the predator's habitat. The white representatives are right at the top of the bear popularity scale. The polar bear Knut from the Berlin Zoo became famous. After he died, his life-size specimen can be admired in the Natural History Museum in Berlin.
3. Cave bears are the biggest bears of all time
The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is an Ice Age cousin of today's brown bears. With a height of 1.70 meters, they weighed about a ton. This makes them the greatest bears of all time. Unfortunately, the imposing giants have died out. The most common skeletal remains were found in caves, hence the name. It is assumed that the animals were still not mostly in caves. They roamed the landscape with mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and woolly rhinos.
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