Bears in California

January 24, 2024

Question: I believe that I may have stumbled upon a grizzly bear in California in June of last year. Is that possible? I live in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon state line.

Answer: In California, the native grizzly bear (Ursus arctos, also known as the brown bear) went extinct around 100 years ago, leaving California with just the one bruin, the black bear that inhabits the entire state. It can be easy to mistake a black bear for a grizzly bear though, due to the tremendous variation in black bear colors and sizes we have in California. Many black bears in California possess a brown coat just like their larger and more aggressive relatives. In addition to brown, California also has many animals that are black, dark brown, cinnamon and even some that are blonde. The size of black bears can also vary widely. While most black bear adults are going to be somewhere between 150 to 300 pounds and easy to distinguish from the much larger grizzly adult, there are many more than 300 pounds and some individuals weighing over a whopping 600 pounds, which is heavier than a lot of grizzlies. Grizzly bears are found today in Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington and western Canada. Ear shape, shoulder hump, facial profile and claw length are reliable features used by biologists to distinguish between the two types of bear in areas of species overlap.

California’s black bear population has increased over the years. In the early ‘80s the statewide population was estimated to be between 10,000 and 15,000 bears. The current population is estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000.