Tibetan Brown Bear.

[brobear]

Obviously, they are referring to the other Himalayan bear ( Ursus arctos pruinosus ), the Tibetan brown bear, also called the "blue bear". While the Himalayan brown bear, also called the red bear ( Ursus arctos isabellinus ) is mostly vegetarian and comparitively peaceful, his cousin the blue bear is much more carnivorous and bad-tempered.
www.bearsoftheworld.net/tibetan_blue_bear.asp

The Tibetan blue bear is one of the rarest bear subspecies in the world. It is also known as the Tibetan brown bear, Horse bear, Himalayan blue bear, Himalayan snow bear, yak dhom (yak bear), and iha dhom (mountain bear). This brown bear subspecies Ursus arctos pruinosus was first classified in 1854 by English zoologist Edward Blyth. It is thought by some to be the source of the legendary yeti. 
 

www.coniferousforest.com/himalayan-brown-bear.htm 
 

The Himalayan brown bear is a species of brown bear found in the Northern Himalayan mountain ranges. It is the largest carnivore in its habitat. Its population numbers have been on a constant downswing because of loss of habitat. Human persecution for their claws and fur is another important reason behind this bear’s falling numbers. 

Himalayan brown bears are mostly active throughout the day, but have their meals in the morning and evening, and spend the rest of the day mostly in thick vegetation. They are solitary, but the territories between two Himalayan brown bears have been seen to overlap. They are one of the most terrestrial of bears. 
 

Size: Males – 5 ft to 7 ft 3 in (1.5-2.2 m); Females – 4 ft 6 in to 6 ft (1.37m-1.83 m)
Weight: Males – 298 lb (135 kg); Females – 150 lb (70 kg)
Color: Reddish-brown to sandy 
    
Note: I could find no reliable source of Tibetan brown bear weight. 

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/518/measurement-tibetan-blue-bear

Weigth: 150 - 230 kg; Length: 1.6 - 2 m.

Sex--BM-----HB----T----Hf----E
¡á----192.5--186---6.2--240---105
¡á----186----180---5.5--230---100
¡â----212----200---6----242---140
¡â----166----172---6----235---110
¡â----162----170---5----220----90
¡â----152.5--164.5-6----230---105
¡á----30.5----98---4----182----90---Cub
¡â----22------90---4----165----80---Cub

ÁõÎñÁÖ (Wulin Liu), 1996 
     
230 kilograms is equal to

507.06 pounds (avoirdupois)

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/518/measurement-tibetan-blue-bear

In 2001, a hair believed to be that of the yeti was found in Bhutan. The team leader of the yeti expedition, Harry Marshall, got it tested in a laboratory in Oxford University. The world’s leading DNA expert, Professor Sykes, did the DNA sequencing and could not match it to any known species.

Seven years later, the professor managed to match it, but to an unidentified bear. “… interestingly a bear that Professor Sykes was unable to identify, ” Marshall said. The question was: could it have been the blue bear?

Blue Bear
The blue bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) is a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and is now believed to be extinct. The bear is essentially black, but its coat has some tinge of blue. Like the blue pine tree, it is not blue in colour.

Its natural habitat is the alpine regions of eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal and it’s infrequently found in Bhutan. In Tibet, it was known as yak dhom or the yak bear. The Bhutanese refer it as the lha dhom or the mountain bear.

“The kings of Bhutan (third and fourth) have been fatally fascinated with the blue bear but none have seen it,” Malcolm Lyell, the former managing director of the Holland & Holland gun company, wrote in his photo journal.

Lyell has the distinction of being the only European allowed to hunt for blue bear in Bhutan. During his trek in 1971, the king marked ‘Sanctuary, blue bear’ on his map, and he came close to tracking down the animal.

“We seem to have come closest to the blue bear at Tashi Markhang, (northern Bhutan), where we were told that they come into maize fields at night.” In addition, he wrote: “Both kings told me they killed baby yaks, and that the way to see or shoot one (the blue bear) was to tie up a baby yak at night,” wrote Lyell in his photo journal.

In Panchen Lama’s zoo
Lyell also became fascinated with the blue bear. He made two subsequent visits (1974, 1975), during which he discussed the animal with the fourth king. On both occasions, he trekked the mountains looking for the animal but was unsuccessful. When he returned home from the last trek, he did more research and sought the assistance of Michael Aris, who knew both Tibet and Bhutan well.

“Here are a couple of photos of the so-called dremo in the Panchen Lama’s zoo in Zhigatse. I’ve just copied them from Hugh Richardson’s own copies.” The letter also said: (This bear is) “the kind the Bhutanese called yakdom (‘yak bear’),” Aris wrote to Lyell on May 13, 1976. The original photos are in the Bell’s collection in the India Office library in London.

In a memorandum dated 20/8/76 of the Natural History museum, the yak bear was classified as part of the brown bear group, Ursus arctos. It said that it was found all over the Palaearctic region. The note said that the two subspecies of the brown bear commonly found in the Himalayan region were the Ursus arctos isabellinus from India, Kashmir + Nepal (and probably also Bhutan), and Ursus arctos prunosus from Tibet and West China (Kansu). They are known as the red bear and the blue bear respectively.

Mountain Bear
The blue bear is known to live in high altitudes close to the tree line. Unlike the other bears found in the region, it often killed yaks, and hence the yak herders referred to it as the yak dhom (yak bear) or lha (mountain) dhom.

Bhutanese claimed to have seen the bear. In Punakha, Chencho said that, 20 years ago, he had spent two months in the forests above Rangrikha village extracting timber to build his house. During this time, he saw two yakdhom. He said that these mountain bears live far from human settlement and generally avoid contact with humans.

Another man from Punkaha also claims to have seen the animal. Dawa, a cow herder, has spent most of his life in the forest with his cows. He said that he saw a lha dhom in Gurigang village, which is a full days walk from Kabisa. “These dhoms are no threat to humans. They’re shy animals. They’ve never attacked any of my cattle,” he said.

Blue Bear - Yeti?
While the blue bear was common in the Himalayas, little of it was known in the west through fur, and bone samples and some photos. It was first classified in 1854, but evidence of its existence was found almost a century later.

In 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary led an expedition in Nepal to search for evidence of the yeti. He returned with two scraps of fur, which the locals identified to be that of the yeti. Later, when it was scientifically tested, it was found to be portions of the pelt of a blue bear.

The other cartographic evidence of the mountain bear in Bhutan is an educational map made by Unicef. In the undated map, Chart No 3, “Some animals of Bhutan”, the artist Dorothy Mierow drew a cub of the blue bear with red bear on the north west part of Bhutan.

Conclusion
Many of the yak herders in Bhutan claimed to have seen the bear. The only evidence to support its existence could be the hair that was found in Bhutan, which Professor Sykes has recently been able to match it to a bear, but an unidentified one.

The Europeans, who looked for the yeti, like Sir Edmund Hillary, Reinhart Messner and now Marshall, have all suggested the blue bear as a possible explanation of the yeti.

In the National Library in Thimphu, there is an ancient script that describes the yeti to be a kind of bear. Bhutan may be the last sanctuary of the blue bear.


Source: www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=21613

[King Kodiak]

I would have guessed also that the book is talking about a himalayan brown bear, not black. As the book did not specify. This shows also that other smaller brown bear subspecies can also displace tigers from its kills.

[brobear]

Oct 6, 2018 17:28:15 GMT -5 King Kodiak said:

I would have guessed also that the book
is talking about a himalayan brown bear, not
black. As the book did not specify. This shows also that other smaller brown bear subspecies can also displace tigers from its kills.

Kodiak; the blue bear is NOT a black bear. 

[brobear]

Ursus arctos arctos is the common European brown bear.
Ursus arctos isabellinus is the red bear.
Ursus arctos pruinosus is the blue bear.
ALL three are grizzlies ( brown bears )... Ursus arctos.

[King Kodiak]

I know, but the himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus laniger) also exists. I was saying that even if the book did not specify it, i knew that they meant a himalayan brown bear.

[King Kodiak]

This is for our new member.
Tibetan blue bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus)


The Tibetan blue bear is one of the rarest bear subspecies in the world. It is also known as the Tibetan brown bear, Horse bear, Himalayan blue bear, Himalayan snow bear, yak dhom (yak bear), and iha dhom (mountain bear). This brown bear subspecies Ursus arctos pruinosus was first classified in 1854 by English zoologist Edward Blyth. It is thought by some to be the source of the legendary yeti.

Tibetan Bear
HABITAT
The Tibetan blue bear is found in the alpine regions of eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal, and seldom in Bhutan. It is known to live in high altitudes close to the tree line. Human settlement has caused a great reduction in the bears' habitat and decline in its number.

CHARACTERISTICS
Tibetan blue bears are black, often having a tinge of blue which is how its name derived. They often have a beigish collar and chest. It is common for their face to be a reddish yellow. Young bears are usually paler in color. A full grown male is 6 to 7 feet in length. Its shoulder width is roughly 3 feet.

Tibetan Bear
STATUS
Because of the Tibetan bear's rarity, its actual status is not known. It has been listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) as a protected species. It is believed by many to be extinct in the wild.

www.bearsoftheworld.net/tibetan_blue_bear.asp

[brobear]

Tibetan Brown Bear - Ursus arctos pruinosus - Blue Bear. 

[brobear]

factrepublic.com/facts/13166/

The Tibetan bear or Tibetan blue bear is a subspecies of the brown bear found in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. It is also known as the Himalayan blue bear, Himalayan snow bear, Tibetan brown bear, or the horse bear. One of the rarest subspecies of bear in the world, the blue bear is rarely sighted in the wild. The blue bear is known in the West only through a small number of fur and bone samples. The Gobi bear is sometimes classified as being of the same subspecies as the Tibetan blue bear; this is based on morphological similarities, and the belief that the desert-dwelling Gobi bear represents a relict population of the blue bear. The Gobi bear is sometimes classified as its own subspecies, and closely resembles other Asian brown bears. It is possible that the occasional specimen might be observed traveling through high mountain peaks during times of reduced food supply, or in search of a mate.

The limited information available about the habits and range of the blue bear makes such speculation difficult to confirm. The exact conservation status of the blue bear is unknown, due to limited information. In the United States trading blue bear specimens or products is restricted by the Endangered Species Act. It is also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as a protected species. It is threatened by the use of bear bile in traditional Chinese medicine and habitat encroachment. The blue bear is notable for having been suggested as one possible inspiration for sightings associated with the legend of the yeti. A 1960 expedition to search for evidence of the yeti, led by Sir Edmund Hillary, returned with two scraps of fur that had been identified by locals as 'yeti fur' that were later scientifically identified as being portions of the pelt of a blue bear.

[brobear]

Mar 8, 2018 7:36:31 GMT -5 brobear said:

blog.nature.org/science/2013/04/01/expedition-to-northern-tibet-part-1-the-land-of-charging-blue-bears/

The Land of Charging Blue Bears

The ice that just cracked under my foot was like a window breaking.
The bear sleeping on the bank of the river exploded with a roar.
Within a few seconds it was covering the frozen ground towards us at break-neck speed. My friend Hamish and I raised our airhorns above our heads and squeezed. The bear kept coming. Then just as the horns started to wheeze their last exhale of compressed air, the bear registered the sound and pulled up.
Standing less than 80 feet from us was one of the rarest bears on the planet, the Tibetan blue bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus).

We didn’t speak, there wasn’t anything to say. We both knew that our air horns were exhausted and that in retrospect we should have had a plan to let off one then the other.
The bear stared at us with lips curled back. We stood frozen holding our bikes. It wasn’t more than a few seconds – time enough to process the gravity of the situation – before the bear turned and retreated. Twenty feet at first, then all the way to the bank, then half way up the sand dune, at each point turning to observe and perhaps reevaluate its decision to retreat, then finally over the top of the dune and out of sight. This was the first bear we had seen on the expedition.

With trembling hands we tore into Hamish’s bike trailer to retrieve the bike pump attachment required to recharge our air horns.
Tibetan blue bears, a subspecies of brown bear, are spectacular. With a luxurious blue-grey coat, big white collar, black legs and black teddy-bear ears, they can look almost like a cross between a grizzly and a panda. Seeing them up close (too close you might say), it surprised me that so few people know about them.

The reason why very few people know of or see this bear is because it lives in one of the world’s most inhospitable places. It is mid-autumn and the temperature is -22 Fahrenheit, and that’s not considering the ferocious wind scouring the almost vegetation-free plain around us. The altitude hasn’t dropped below 16,400 feet (5000m) for over a week of travel and progress is only possible when we’re not sheltering from storms that carry a biting mix of snow and sand.
It is a place captivating in its hostility. A land where giant sand dunes rest against towering glaciated peaks. A land of impassable mud in summer and punishing cold in winter. Of wild animals living on the roof of the world.
We are on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau where the provinces of Qinghai and Xinjiang join the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR); a place too inhospitable for even the hardy Tibetan nomads to use. This is not the Tibet of documentaries. It is a landscape very few people know about, hidden in the centre of a continent.
The northern part of the Tibetan Plateau is home to three giant nature preserves. The Qiangtang in the TAR, Aerjinshan in Xingjiang, and Kekexili in Qinghai. Other than the Greenland icesheet, this cluster of parks forms the biggest contiguous terrestrial protected area on the planet. A roadless wilderness bigger than Montana. Heavy travel restrictions, impassable mountain ranges, altitude, and ferocious conditions have made it one of the least visited places on the planet.

For three weeks our only company would be aggressive bears, inquisitive wolves, defensive yaks, and some of the most testing conditions on our planet. In coming blogs I’ll share some of our experiences and encounters of life on the northern plateau.

The Tibetan brown bear might very well be as aggressive as the Canadian barren ground grizzly. 

[Deleted]

Jan 26, 2019 17:06:31 GMT -5 brobear said:

Tibetan Brown Bear - Ursus arctos pruinosus - Blue Bear. 

This is one of my favourite pictures.

[King Kodiak]

TIBETAN BLUE BEAR (URSUS ARCTOS PRUINOSUS)

[brobear]

Photo's of these guys are rare. Nice.

[King Kodiak]

Feb 23, 2019 12:32:54 GMT -5 brobear said:

Photo's of these guys are rare. Nice.

You are right. Very rare. 

[King Kodiak]

[OldGreenGrolar]

Any links of the Tibetan blue bear aggression. Info for this bear is hard to find.

[brobear]

Jan 5, 2020 3:45:15 GMT -5 OldGreenGrolar said:

Any links of the Tibetan blue bear aggression. Info for this bear is hard to find.

Read thru reply #11.

[OldGreenGrolar]

Jan 29, 2019 6:07:49 GMT -5 brobear said:

Mar 8, 2018 7:36:31 GMT -5 brobear said:

blog.nature.org/science/2013/04/01/expedition-to-northern-tibet-part-1-the-land-of-charging-blue-bears/

The Land of Charging Blue Bears

The ice that just cracked under my foot was like a window breaking.
The bear sleeping on the bank of the river exploded with a roar.
Within a few seconds it was covering the frozen ground towards us at break-neck speed. My friend Hamish and I raised our airhorns above our heads and squeezed. The bear kept coming. Then just as the horns started to wheeze their last exhale of compressed air, the bear registered the sound and pulled up.
Standing less than 80 feet from us was one of the rarest bears on the planet, the Tibetan blue bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus).

We didn’t speak, there wasn’t anything to say. We both knew that our air horns were exhausted and that in retrospect we should have had a plan to let off one then the other.
The bear stared at us with lips curled back. We stood frozen holding our bikes. It wasn’t more than a few seconds – time enough to process the gravity of the situation – before the bear turned and retreated. Twenty feet at first, then all the way to the bank, then half way up the sand dune, at each point turning to observe and perhaps reevaluate its decision to retreat, then finally over the top of the dune and out of sight. This was the first bear we had seen on the expedition.

With trembling hands we tore into Hamish’s bike trailer to retrieve the bike pump attachment required to recharge our air horns.
Tibetan blue bears, a subspecies of brown bear, are spectacular. With a luxurious blue-grey coat, big white collar, black legs and black teddy-bear ears, they can look almost like a cross between a grizzly and a panda. Seeing them up close (too close you might say), it surprised me that so few people know about them.

The reason why very few people know of or see this bear is because it lives in one of the world’s most inhospitable places. It is mid-autumn and the temperature is -22 Fahrenheit, and that’s not considering the ferocious wind scouring the almost vegetation-free plain around us. The altitude hasn’t dropped below 16,400 feet (5000m) for over a week of travel and progress is only possible when we’re not sheltering from storms that carry a biting mix of snow and sand.
It is a place captivating in its hostility. A land where giant sand dunes rest against towering glaciated peaks. A land of impassable mud in summer and punishing cold in winter. Of wild animals living on the roof of the world.
We are on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau where the provinces of Qinghai and Xinjiang join the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR); a place too inhospitable for even the hardy Tibetan nomads to use. This is not the Tibet of documentaries. It is a landscape very few people know about, hidden in the centre of a continent.
The northern part of the Tibetan Plateau is home to three giant nature preserves. The Qiangtang in the TAR, Aerjinshan in Xingjiang, and Kekexili in Qinghai. Other than the Greenland icesheet, this cluster of parks forms the biggest contiguous terrestrial protected area on the planet. A roadless wilderness bigger than Montana. Heavy travel restrictions, impassable mountain ranges, altitude, and ferocious conditions have made it one of the least visited places on the planet.

For three weeks our only company would be aggressive bears, inquisitive wolves, defensive yaks, and some of the most testing conditions on our planet. In coming blogs I’ll share some of our experiences and encounters of life on the northern plateau.

The Tibetan brown bear might very well be as aggressive as the Canadian baren ground grizzly. 

I can see this brown bear subspecies is like a cross between a grizzly and panda which explains why American Inland grizzlies and Ussuri brown bears look similar yet have some facial difference. I think barren ground grizzly to Tibetan blue bear is like American Inland grizzly to Ussuri brown bear.

[brobear]

I can see this brown bear subspecies is like a cross between a grizzly and panda which explains why American Inland grizzlies and Ussuri brown bears look similar yet have some facial difference. I think barren ground grizzly to Tibetan blue bear is like American Inland grizzly to Ussuri brown bear.

* like a cross between a grizzly and panda... what?