Formerly or currently considered subspecies or populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos) have been listed as follows:Ursus arctos, ITIS

List

Eurasia and North Africa

Palearctic realm (Eurasia and North Africa)Subspecies/population Image Distribution Description/comments Ursus arctos arctos – Eurasian brown bear or European brown bear The most widespread subspecies in Europe, as well as their range in Western Russia and the Caucasus. May be found as far east in Russia as the Yenisei River in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug to Novosibirsk Oblast in the south, where the subspecies intergrades into U. a. collaris. A predominantly dark, richly brown colored (with rare light-colored individuals), moderately sized subspecies with dark claws, the Eurasian brown bears occurring in Russia are larger than their European counterparts, which may be in part because they are hunted less. Ursus arctos beringianus – Kamchatkan brown bear or Far Eastern brown bear the coastal lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk down as far as the Shantar Islands, Kolyma, all the land around the Shelikhov Gulf, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Paramushir Island A very large bear with a broad muzzle. Overall has dark coloring, some animals appearing almost blackish-brown but will usually be paler at the top of the back. It may overlap with U. a. collaris extensively a few miles inland. It is thought to be the ancestor of the polar bear, the Kodiak bear, and the peninsular brown bears of Alaska. Middendorf described it from Greater Shantar Island with its distribution range comprising the eastern coast of Siberia and Japan. Ursus arctos collaris – East Siberian brown bear A majority of Siberia from the Yenisei River to as far south as the Altai Mountains in northern Mongolia, northernmost Xinjiang and northeastern Kazakhstan. Ranges as far north as the southwestern Taymyr Peninsula and the Anabar River. As the farthest east ranging of all Old World brown bear populations, it is found in Chukotka as far as the coast of the Bering Strait to the east and the coast of the Chukchi Sea in the north. Most bears of this type are fairly dark, but some are as pale as grizzly bears. It is intermediate in size between U. a. arctos and U. a. beringianus, with a proportionately larger skull than the nominate subspecies. In the sub-Arctic region of Yakutia, bears are reportedly quite small compared to other regions. Ursus arctos gobiensis – Gobi bear the Gobi Desert, Mongolia An extremely rare bear found in the Gobi Desert, this bear is adapted to desert life, dwelling in oases and rocky outcrops. It is rather small and pale and it appears to lack the whitish collar characteristic of Tibetan blue bears.Balint, P. J., & Steinberg, J. A. (2003). "Conservation case study of the Gobi bear", pp. 238–257 in Mongolia Today: Science, Culture, Environment, and Development. Psychology Press. . Phylogenetic analysis suggests they represent a relict population of the Himalayan brown bear. At one time, Gobi bears probably overlapped and possibly interbred with Tibetan blue bears in western China, but the bears are now extinct in this area. Ursus arctos isabellinus – Himalayan brown bear or red bear, isabelline bear northern Nepal, North India and Northern Pakistan, most continuous current range in Jammu and Kashmir Quite distinctive physically, as it possess a reddish-brown or sandy-brown coat color with silver-tipped hairs and relatively large ears. This bear is smaller than most other brown bears found on the Asian continent. Prefers high altitude forests and alpine meadows. Critically Endangered. Ursus arctos lasiotus – Ussuri brown bear or Amur brown bear, Ezo brown bear, Manchurian grizzly bear, black grizzly bear Russia: the southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, the Maritime Territory and the Ussuri/Amur River region south of the Stanovoy Range, China (in the former Manchuria): Heilongjiang, Japan: Hokkaidō, Honshu (in the last glacial period), and the Korean Peninsula: North Korea. Became extinct on Rebun and Rishiri Islands in the 13th century AD.『野生動物調査痕跡学図鑑』 p.356 Ursus arctos lasiotus is quite variable in size. Skull dimensions from mainland Russia (i.e. the Primorsky and the Khabarovsk) indicate they can rival Kamchatkan brown bears in size. By contrast, the population found in Hokkaido is one of the smallest northern forms of the brown bear. Nonetheless, individuals from Hokkaido can reportedly get larger than expected and have reached .Kamchatkan Bear. iza-yoi.net in weight by feeding on cultivations.体重400キロのヒグマ捕獲 なぜ巨大化？ news24.jp (12 October 2015)体重400キロのヒグマ捕獲 なぜ巨大化？日テレNEWS24. News24.jp (2015-10-12). Retrieved on 2016-12-12. This bear is thought to be the ancestor of U. a. horribilis. It is perhaps the darkest-colored population on average and some specimens are almost fully black in colour, although lighter brown and intermediate forms are known. Due to its coloring, this subspecies is sometimes informally referred to as the "black grizzly bear". Ursus arctos marsicanus – Marsican brown bear or Apennine brown bear Marsica, central Italy There are an estimated 40 to 50 bears remaining in the Marsican area. This is an unrecognized subspecies that is now considered to be a population of the nominate subspecies U. a. arctos. Ursus arctos pruinosus – Tibetan blue bear or horse bear the Tibetan Plateau; some of the bears found in the Himalayas are reportedly actually wandering individuals from the more robustly populated Tibetan subspecies This is a moderately-sized subspecies with long, shaggy fur. Both dark-colored and light-colored variants are encountered, with intermediate colors predominating. The fur around the neck, chest and shoulders is yellowish-brown or whitish and frequently forms a collar, which no other brown bear subspecies typically possesses in a mature state. Like the Himalayan brown bear, the ears are relatively prominent. The skull is distinguished by its relatively flattened choanae, an arch-like curve of the molar row and large teeth, probably in correlation to its particularly carnivorous habits. Ursus arctos pyrenaicus – Cantabrian brown bear or Iberian brown bear The Iberian Peninsula, primarily the Cantabrian Mountains and the hills in Galicia, and the Pyrenees. Rare, sporadic sightings in northern Portugal. Until recently, this brown bear population was considered a separate subspecies. Today, it is considered to belong to the nominate subspecies U. a. arctos. Scientific evidence based on DNA studies would furthermore indicate the Eurasian brown bear can be divided into two distinct lineages. "There is a clear division into two main mitochondrial lineages in modern Eurasian brown bear populations. These populations are divided into those carrying an eastern lineage (clade IIIa, Leonard et al. 2000), which is composed of Russian, northern Scandinavian and eastern European populations, and those carrying a western lineage (clade I, Leonard et al. 2000), which is composed of two subgroups, one believed to originate from the Iberian Peninsula, including southern Scandinavian bears and the Pyrenean populations; and the other from the Italian–Balkan peninsulas (Taberlet et al. 1994; see however Kohn et al. 1995). In addition, based on the subfossil record in northwestern Moldova and mitochondrial DNA data from modern populations, a Carpathian refuge has also been proposed (Sommer & Benecke 2005; Saarma et al. 2007)."

The Cantabrian brown bear is the largest wild animal on the Iberian Peninsula, although it is also one of the smallest of the brown bears, weighing between as an adult. Its fur varies from pale cream to dark brown, but always with a distinctively darker, nearly black tone at the paws and a yellowish tinge at the tip of each hair. The Cantabrian brown bear population in Spain is considered endangered. The bear population in the Pyrenees stems mostly from bears reintroduced from Slovenia, with one or two remaining original males.Cuántos osos hay y dónde viven. Fundación Oso Pardo – distribution maps and population from 2008 (in Spanish)DEPANA – detailed distribution maps and census information from 2009 (in Catalan).The Cantabrian Brown Bear Ursus arctos arctos . picos-accommodation.co.uk. Ursus arctos syriacus – Syrian brown bear Transcaucasia, Iraq, Turkey (Asia Minor), Iran, western Afghanistan, eastern Lebanon, Pakistan, western Himalayas and the Pamir-Alay and Tian Shan Mountains. Despite a historical presence in Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic (the latter is the subspecies' namesake), it is believed to be extinct in these countries now. The Syrian brown bear is a moderate- to small-sized subspecies with light claws. This population tends to be a whitish-blond color, with less noticeable black-based hairs than grizzly bears have. †Ursus arctos crowtheri – Atlas bear or North African brown bear, Crowther's bear (extinct) The Atlas Mountains and adjacent areas in North Africa, from Morocco to Libya. The Atlas bear was the only bear species to Africa in modern times. The last surviving Atlas bear is thought to have been killed by hunters in 1890."Bear Anatomy and Physiology" from Gary Brown's The Great Bear Almanac, Lyons & Burford, Publishers, 1993Bryden, H. A. (ed.) (1899). Great and small game of Africa Rowland Ward Ltd., London. Pp. 607–608. †Ursus arctos priscus – Steppe brown bear (extinct) Eurasia The steppe brown bear was an extinct prehistoric brown bear subspecies that lived in places like Slovakia. It was more carnivorous than most bears today.Villalba de Alvarado, M., Collado Giraldo, H., Arsuaga, J. L., Bello Rodrigo, J. R., Heteren, A. H., & Gómez-Olivencia, A. (2021). Looking for the earliest evidence of Ursus arctos LINNAEUS, 1758 in the Iberian Peninsula: the Middle Pleistocene site of Postes cave. Boreas, 51(1), 159–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12537Pacher, M. (2007). The type specimen of Ursus priscus Goldfuss, 1810 and the uncertain status of Late Pleistocene brown bears. Neues Jahrbuch f€ur Geologie und Pal€aontologie, Abhandlungen 245, 331–339.

North America