Size

[tom]

No. Just means the bears body fat percentage increases. The extra weight is purely fat, which the Bears obviously need to make it thru winter.  Muscle mass is increased thru exercise. The exception of course is a young bear growing in size and weight, so in that case the muscles are getting bigger as his overall skeletal frame grows until he/she fully matures.

[brobear]

In the Spring, when a grizzly comes out of hibernation, his body-fat ratio can be very low. During the Autumn months the bear is packing on the pounds. Brown bears that don't hibernate, such as a captive bear ( if cared for properly ) or the ( now extinct ) Mexican grizzly or California grizzly maintain body-fat ratio like a regular Summer-time bear.

[BruteStrength]

Ok but how do a bear get exercise besides digging in the hard Earth? Bears do alot of constant walking. Would this count as exercise?

[brobear]

Nov 20, 2018 3:25:58 GMT -5 BruteStrength said:

Ok but how do a bear get exercise besides digging in the hard Earth? Bears do alot of constant walking. Would this count as exercise?

Walking is exercise, but a grizzly does a lot of digging other than just a den. He digs for food such as roots, tubers, and burrowing rodents. He digs up ant nests and termite nests. He rips into bee-trees and tears apart stumps  and overturns boulders and logs. A grizzly can be very active. 

[BruteStrength]

What about other brown bears like the Kodiak brown bear and the Kamchatka brown bear? Is it the same for these bears as well?

[brobear]

Nov 20, 2018 4:00:53 GMT -5 BruteStrength said:

What about other brown bears like the Kodiak brown bear and the Kamchatka brown bear? Is it the same for these bears as well?

Yes, they are all Ursus arctos. Consider Bart the Bear. 1500 pounds was his "Summer weight". Doug Seus kept him in good physical condition. If Bart had gained weight for hibernation, he would have probably weighed about one ton - 2,000 pounds - 907 kg. 

[BruteStrength]

Nov 20, 2018 4:08:49 GMT -5 brobear said:

Nov 20, 2018 4:00:53 GMT -5 BruteStrength said:

What about other brown bears like the Kodiak brown bear and the Kamchatka brown bear? Is it the same for these bears as well?

Yes, they are all Ursus arctos. Consider Bart the Bear. 1500 pounds was his "Summer weight". Doug Seus kept him in good physical condition. If Bart had gained weight for hibernation, he would have probably weighed about one ton - 2,000 pounds - 907 kg. 

2,000 pounds? Now that's one big bear.

[tom]

Nov 20, 2018 1:28:18 GMT -5 tom said:

No. Just means the bears body fat percentage increases. The extra weight is purely fat, which the Bears obviously need to make it thru winter.  Muscle mass is increased thru exercise. The exception of course is a young bear growing in size and weight, so in that case the muscles are getting bigger as his overall skeletal frame grows until he/she fully matures.

I'd like to expand on what I said earlier.

Weight gain (same as humans) comes when caloric intake is more than caloric expenditure. You eat more than your body can burn off from activity and you gain fat weight, pretty basic. These Bears instinctively know they must pack on substantial weight to make it thru hibernation. They literally gorge themselves, eating far more than their body can possibly burn off thru activity. Bears being wild animals are naturally active and can easily MAINTAIN good muscle mass throughout their adult lives. Very old or crippled individuals can lose muscle mass and become thin and in some case severely so. This is from a lack of activity  or the inability to find quality food due to more dominant Bears taking all the choice options, but it can also be simply the natural aging process. We see this in Alaska many times where the older less dominant bears by late fall still are having problems putting on weight for hibernation.I believe the Bear that killed Timothy Treadwell may have been such a Bear.

[BruteStrength]

Well said Tom. They say that old mature males are strong too with their age.

[brobear]

Note - Something to think about. With great size comes a lesser chance of surviving drastic climatic changes. With every mass extinction, the biggest animals are the first to disappear. Among brown bears, we have huge bears such as those on Kodiak Island and the Alaskan peninsula. We also have comparatively small bears such as those of the high Himalayan Mountains and on the vast Canadian tundra. The brown bear's natural ability to size adjustment according to environment and food availability is a miracle of nature. Cave bears and short-faced bears were bigger than grizzlies; but who survived the last Ice Age? 
 

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213084408.htm

[King Kodiak]

Very interesting Brobear. Who survived the last ice age? The great Grizzly bear of course. A great survivor.

[Anti-Spam]

A decendant bear of the same lineage as the extinct cave/short-faced bears
still lives in South America, but its a small one by comparison.

I wonder why the grizz never established itself down past Mexico, either?

[brobear]

Dec 5, 2018 19:11:35 GMT -5 Anti-Spam said:

A decendant bear of the same lineage as the extinct cave/short-faced bears
still lives in South America, but its a small one by comparison.

I wonder why the grizz never established itself down past Mexico, either?

The Andean bear is closer to Arctotherium than to Arctodus. I really don't know enough about Mexico to come to any conclusions. Probably due to food choices. But Arctodus simus was and is more wide-spread than Panthera leo. He conquered sub-tropical India ( thus the sloth bear ) and the far arctic ( thus the polar bear ). He lives in the Gobi Desert, in the high Himalayan Mountains, on the vast Canadian tundra, in the taiga of Europe, Asia, and N. America, in the Rocky Mountains and previously on the American prairie, the California coast, Mexico, and China. 

[King Kodiak]

Here i found a very interesting post from epaiva from Wildfact. 

epaiva

Information about the Size of Kodiak Brown Bear sent by the number one expert in Kodiak Brown Bears Larry Van Daele, Ph.D a few years ago.

Edouard,

Thank you for your interest in Kodiak bears. Here are the answers to your questions:

1 - average weights are very difficult to determine because there is much variability caused by the age and gender of the bear, as well as the time of year. In the spring, an average adult female would weigh about 200 kg and an average adult male would weigh about 300 kg. During the summer and fall they will gain 30-50% more weight. The largest bear on Kodiak, in the fall, probably weighs 700 kg.

2 - average body length (tip of nose to the tail) of an adult female is about 2.1 m and an average adult male is about 2.5 m. The largest males are about 3.2 m.

3 - average claw size (front) - 8 cm. The largest - 14 cm

4 - average height at shoulder for an adult female is about 1 m and for a male about 1.3 m. The largest male is about 1.5 m.

These figures are based on my observations, but in many cases they are estimates rather than actual scientifically collected data. I hope they are satisfactory for your needs.

Best wishes,

Larry

Larry Van Daele, Ph.D.
Kodiak Area Wildlife Biologist
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
211 Mission Road
Kodiak, Alaska 99615 USA

Post # 38
wildfact.com/forum/topic-bear-anatomy?page=3

[King Kodiak]

So when we talk about “average” weights for Kodiak bears we really need to separate the seasons, because according to Larry Van Daele, in the spring, the average is 300 kg, but in the summer and fall they weight between 30-50 % more, that would be 1000 lbs and more. What do you think Brobear?

[brobear]

300 kilograms is equal to
661.39 pounds (avoirdupois)

700 kilograms is equal to
1,543.24 pounds (avoirdupois)

Average weight for adult male in Spring 661 pounds. Another problem, biologists list all sexually mature bears as adult. This means every male from 4.5 years old and older. Now; in this particular information, we cannot be sure.
1,543 pound brown bears are definitely full-grown.
I would consider it safe to say that at Summer weight, the average full-grown ( 9+ years old ) male Kodiak bear weighs roughly 1,000 pounds. Always say roughly as this is not an exact figure.

[King Kodiak]

Definatly, in the spring 300 kg average, the young adults were most likely included, that would definatly downgrade the average. In the summer, the average would be 1000 + lbs, that is probably why every single site has that average.

[BruteStrength]

But when talking about average bear weight sizes are these full grown adults?

[King Kodiak]

Dec 7, 2018 18:30:43 GMT -5 BruteStrength said:

But when talking about average bear weight sizes are these full grown adults?

Usually yes. But you have to look at the age classes in the charts.

[brobear]

... shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/538/north-american-interior-grizzly-bears?page=3

This has been told over-and-over. But big cat fan-boys hate this and try to deny it. An accurate average of adult grizzlies must not make usage of bears below the age of 9 year old - period. I will not compromise.


"Blanchard (in press) found that in Yellowstone National Park, male grizzlies were consistently heavier than females for all age classes except cubs and yearlings. Sex­ual dimorphism beginning at age 2 was also apparent in other study areas (Troyer and Hensel 1969, Pearson 1975). Males in Yellowstone steadily gained weight until at least 15 years, but the mean annual rate of weight increase for males aged 4-15 (5.6%) was much less than the rate for cubs through 3 years (42.1%). The mean weight of adult males was 29% greater than for females and body measurements were 8-17% greater. Males attained full size in 7 of 11 body measurements by age 6 and in all 11 by age 9."

SOURCE: Grizzly Bear Compendium (1987) by the Inter agency Grizzly Bear Committee.