Eurasian Brown Bear

Ranging from Europe to Central Russia, where it inhabits boreal and temperate forests, grasslands, and wetlands, the Eurasian brown bear (or Ursus arctos arctos) is a subspecies of the brown bear. Eurasian brown bears have thick, brown fur, a large shoulder hump, a rounded head and small, rounded ears. They have strong front legs with long claws used for digging and hunting. Brown bears can grow extremely large, but there is a lot of variation in size between different populations. An average male bear weighs 350kg to 500kg and will be 2.2m long, while an average female bear weighs 150kg to 300kg and will be 1.8m long.

While of Least Concern today, the Eurasian brown bear has lost much of its historic range. Centuries of habitat destruction, hunting, and deliberate persecution have led to severe population declines and local extinctions. Bears had vanished from much of Western Europe by the early 20th century, surviving only in remote mountainous and forested areas. Growing environmental awareness and legal protections, such as the EU Habitats Directive and the Bern convention have laid the groundwork for bear conservation and recovery. Reintroductions and translocation efforts have played a vital role in restoring bear populations to former habitats, such as in Italy’s Trentino-Alto Adige region, or the Pyrenees Mountains, where bears from Slovenia were released to bolster a nearly extinct population. Bear reintroductions typically involve carefully selected individuals, soft-releases, post-release monitoring, and intensive community engagement to address human-wildlife conflicts. Several reintroduced populations are now breeding successfully and expanding their range, making the Eurasian brown bear one of Europe’s notable large carnivore conservation successes.