What Animal Lives Where

Where has the brown bear been recorded?

Ursus arctos occurrence evidence comes from 1,391 records in 32 countries and territories, from 1555 to 2026. Most records come from United States.

brown bear
brown bear — Photo (display-sized rendition): Yathin S Krishnappa · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
MammaliaCarnivoraUrsidaeUrsus

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

1,391 records across 32 countries and territories, 1555–2026.

Ursus arctos · GBIF taxon key 2433433

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-23. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: May.

8 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: May. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

15552026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where brown bear has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for brown bear. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
United States 837
Canada 149
Austria 136
Japan 58
Russia 40
Montenegro 39
Romania 36
Estonia 10
Italy 10
Spain 9
Iran 9
Mexico 9
Slovakia 6
China 5
Bosnia & Herzegovina 4
Georgia 4
India 4
Poland 4
Czechia 3
Türkiye 3
Finland 2
Iraq 2
Sweden 2
Andorra 1
Belarus 1
Greece 1
Croatia 1
Israel 1
Kazakhstan 1
Lithuania 1
Pakistan 1
Ukraine 1

Related animals

Others in the family Ursidae.

polar bear
polar bear
846 records
giant panda
giant panda
14 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.