Alaska Coastal Bears:Pictures and Information

The brown bears found along Alaska's coast are the largest living carnivorous land mammals in the world.  They can be as large as 8 to 9 feet when standing upright and weigh up to 1,500 pounds and more. The male bears usually weigh twice as much as the female bears. Alaska coastal Brown Bears are on an average larger than their interior counterparts. This is primarily due to a large part of their diet consisting of salmon which they catch while the salmon are returning to their spawning streams. Their name is a bit misleading as they aren't always brown.  In fact, they can range in color from black with silver tipped hairs to yellow or pale blonde, but most are some shade of brown.  Interior bears are usually referred to as “grizzlies” and coastal bears as “brownies”.

Alaska Brown Bears and Kodiak Bears are different

Scientists agree that the North American and European Brown Bears are of the same species, but that the Kodiak Bears from the Kodiak Island group are a separate subspecies due to their being reproductively isolated.

Alaska Black Bears live among brown bears

In Alaska black bears live on the coast as well as in the interior, however while black  bears and brown bears share the same habitat, black bears will avoid areas frequented by brown bears. All bears are territorial, but when the salmon make their runs to their spawning beds, brown bears will put aside their territorial nature to gorge on the salmon.

Alaska Coastal polar, brown and black bears have their own Alaska

With the exception of the extreme southern Southeastern Islands, brown bears can be found in most of Alaska. The smallest population is found in the interior and arctic regions with the largest populations on Kodiak, Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof Islands. Black bears can be found in Alaska generally everywhere south of the Arctic Circle. Alaska polar bears are coastal and found all along Alaska arctic coast.

"Bears keep me humble. They help me to keep the world in perspective and to understand where I fit on the spectrum of life.  We need to preserve the wilderness and its monarchs for ourselves, and for the dreams of children. We should fight for these things as if our life depended upon it, because it does."

- Wayne Lynch

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