The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies[4] of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis), other morphological forms of brown bear are sometimes identified as grizzly bears. These include three living populations—the Kodiak bear (U. a. middendorffi), the Kamchatka bear (U. a. beringianus), and the peninsular grizzly (U. a. gyas)—as well as the extinct California grizzly (U. a. californicus†)[5][6] and Mexican grizzly (formerly U. a. nelsoni†).[7][8] On average, grizzly bears near the coast tend to be larger while inland grizzlies tend to be smaller. The Ussuri brown bear (U. a. lasiotus), inhabiting the Ussuri Krai, Sakhalin, the Amur Oblast, the Shantar Islands, Iturup Island, and Kunashir Island in Siberia, northeastern China, North Korea, and Hokkaidō in Japan,[6][9][10] is sometimes referred to as the "black grizzly", although it is no more closely related to North American brown bears than other subspecies of the brown bear around the world.
