Brown Bears

Brown Bear Thumbnails Brown or Grizzly Bear? The island belongs to Ursus arctos. The same bear, found around the Northern hemisphere is called brown bear or grizzly depending on where they live - whether near the sea or inland, in Europe, Asia or North America. This essenteally is the same bear explorers Lewis and Clark encountered in great numbers just west of the Mississippi River. It is the same bear that ranged throughout the West and into Mexico, and which has not been seen in California since the 1920s (except on their state flag). Today it survives outside of Alaska only in isolated pockets in four states of Northwest U.S. and in parts of Canada. Everything about the bear is big - Admiralty's brown bear, as elsewhere, has the species' large head, characteristic shoulder hump and long claws. On either side of the head are large muscles that power the jaws. The bulging shoulder hump is the muscle that gives such enormous strength to the front legs. The digestive system enables feeding on both plants and animals.

Bears find food and avoid danger because their hearing and sense of smell are superb, and their eyesight is at least as good as humans.