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bear: Quick Facts

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News •

Relaxed bear wins award for luxurious eating style—underneath an Alaskan waterfall • Nov. 4, 2026, 11:13 AM ET (Popular Science)
Silly bear cub wins award for being terrible at hide-and-seek • Oct. 27, 2026, 12:57 PM ET (Popular Science)

Facts

Also Known As Ursidae

Photos and Videos

Jasper National Park: grizzly bear
World map showing the geographic ranges of the eight bear species, each marked in a different color. The American black bear is found across much of North America, the polar bear in Arctic regions, the brown bear across northern North America, Europe, and Asia, and the spectacled bear in a small area of northwestern South America. In Asia, the Asiatic black bear, sloth bear, sun bear, and giant panda have distinct, mostly non-overlapping ranges in the eastern and southern parts of the continent.
Three polar bears (Ursus maritimus) standing together on a floating ice sheet surrounded by water and broken ice in Norway.
A spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) with distinctive pale markings on its face sits on large tree branches.
sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)
A sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) with long shaggy black fur stands on rocky terrain, resting one paw on a large boulder.
An illustration of an Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) sitting upright, showing its dark fur and distinctive white chest marking, with a scale bar indicating 30 centimeters or 12 inches for size reference.
American black bear
black bears
Kodiak bear
Small squirrel peeking out of a snowy bank, with a blue circle surrounding it.
How polar bears survive in the Russian Arctic
Polar bear triplets' first steps into the Arctic
Watch a wolf and bear interact in Russia's coniferous forests
Life of polar bear cubs in the Canadian Arctic
See All Videos and Images →

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