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Grizzly bears and Brown bears are large species of bears, originating from eastern hemisphere countries such as North America, Europa, and Asia.

Furthermore, Grizzly and Brown bears are gigantic, aggressive, enormous, and dark in colour. Brown bears are found in coastal areas of Alaska and are dark brown.

Grizzly bears range from light beige to dark brown or black.

Key Takeaways

  1. Grizzly bears are smaller and have a distinct hump on their shoulders, while brown bears are larger and have a more uniform shoulder profile.
  2. Grizzly bears are more aggressive than brown bears.
  3. Grizzly bears have a more varied diet than brown bears.

Grizzly Bear vs Brown Bear

Grizzly bears are large and range in colour from very light tan (almost white) to dark brown. They have a dished face, short, rounded ears, and a large shoulder hump. Bear live in the forests and mountains of northern North America, Europe, and Asia. It is the most widely distributed bear in the world. Adult brown bears are mighty. 

Grizzly Bear vs Brown Bear

Grizzly Bears more or less look like Brown bears, but due to their smaller size and light colour, they are referred to as Grizzly in several interior areas.

Plus, these mammals are omnivores, meaning they live off eating animals and plants found in the lands they dwell in. 

Brown bears fall under the most fundamental class of bear species, Ursus Arctors. Also, there are two types of brown bears: grizzly bears in North America and Kodiak bears in Alaska.

These easily identifiable brown-coloured bears are primarily found in the coastal regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. 

Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonGrizzly BearBrown Bear
Meaning Grizzly Bears originated predominantly from North America Brown Bear is one of the largest bear populations in the eastern hemisphere. 
OriginThey are large and have a hump above their shoulders, are 4-9 feet tall & weigh around 150-350 kg. Brown bears originated in coastal regions of Asia and migrated to North America and Europe.
Appearance Colour They grow to be up to eight feet tall, rounded ears, large shoulders &, have0 to 600 pounds. 
A variety of colours associated with Grizzly Bears, from beige to dark brown or blackGrizzly Bear claws are large with 4-6 inches in length Brown bears are dark brown. 
Claws A brown bear’s clbear’se curved and straight with a length of 3-5 inches.A brown bear’s Bear’s’se curved and straight with a length of 3-5 inches.

What is Grizzly Bear?

Grizzly Bear is also known as North America Brown Bear or Silvertip Bear. It is the subspecies of Brown Bears, popularly recognized as Ursus Arctos Horribilis.

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In the abstract, they are large in size, and a usual male grizzly bear can grow up to eight feet tall, and weigh around 400 to 600 pounds. 

Speaking of their coat colours, it depends on the region they inhabit, ranging from light beige to dark brown or black. Moreover, because of the white-tipped hair along their shoulders and back, they look grizzlier than any normal near.

These bears have a large, round faces, short, rounded ears and a large shoulder hump. 

And this hump and very long and curved claws assist them in digging. Dense boreal forests, alpine tundra areas, and river valleys are preferred habitats for grizzly bears.

Their ways of communication include smelling, moving, and making sounds. 

A grizzly bear can live up to thirty years in the wild, while twenty to twenty-five years is its average age. Grizzly bears are considered endangered in part of Canada and threatened in the United States.

Several threats affect these animals, including hunting and habitat encroachment.

grizzly bear

What is Brown Bear?

On the other hand, a Brown Bear is a large bear species found in Europe, Asia, and North America. Initially, brown bears originated from the coastal regions in Asia

during the Middle Pleistocene period and subsequently spread to North America and Europe.

Speaking of their appearances, they are larger and dark brown. 

In the same way, brown bears have a hump above their shoulders to pitch in while digging. However, due to their homes in the coastal areas, they are not used to climbing. 

Brown bears are omnivores, as they eat berries, roots, fungi, grasses, fish, mammals, and insects.

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They have an excellent skill of catching fish at the drop of a hat, and while digging out insects from decaying logs or out of caves, it uses their long claws.

Over and above, the brown bears are described as nocturnal since most of the encounters have been reported during the nighttime.

An average adult brown bear weighs around 150 to 350 kg and can grow up to 7-15 centimetres tall, depending on age, gender, and season. Surprisingly, they are the largest predators in Europe and North America, which still exist. 

brown bear

Main Differences Between Grizzly Bears and Brown Bear

  1. A grizzly bear is one of the bear species that looks like a brown bear and originated from North America. On the other hand, a Brown bear is a large number of bear species denoted origin from Eurasia and North America.
  2. Grizzly Bears are also known as Silvertips, North America Brown Bears, Boars, and Brown Bear subspecies, such as Ursus Arctos Horribilis. Meanwhile, Brown Bears are called Ursus arctos and are traditionally named Grizzly bears. 
  3. Speaking of life span, a grizzly bear can live for 20-25 years but for a brown bear, it is computed to be 20-30 years. 
  4. Grizzly bears are 8 feet tall and their face is round, their ears are short, their shoulders are humped, beige, or light to dark brown, and weigh around 400-600 pounds. On the contrary, Brown bears are dark brown, 9 feet tall, have long guard hairs on their humped shoulders, and weigh around 150-350 kg. 
  5. Grizzly bear’s havbear’ss 4-6 inches in length, whereas a brown bear’s clabear’s 3-5 inches in length.
Difference Between Grizzly Bear and Brown Bear
References
  1. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1940382
  2. https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1998.96457.x
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By Piyush Yadav

Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.