Polar bear size comparison: how big is the largest bear?

Although it was difficult to make a decision, scientists have declared polar bears the largest bear in the world. However, when it comes to comparing polar bear size, how do polar bears measure up to some of the other apex predators on land?

Judging between two numbers can make it difficult to understand how big polar bears are. After all, few rulers can show the true size of a 5-foot withers (that’s the point of an animal’s shoulders and is how many animals’ heights are measured).

This complete polar bear guide will do more than just teach you how big polar bears are compared to Kodiak bears, grizzly bears and tigers – it will also do this in a way that makes it easy to understand the full extent of what makes the polar bear the largest bear in the world. world.

How big are polar bears?

Polar bears are the largest bear in the world. They also happen to be the largest modern land predator.

Thanks to their protein-rich diet filled with seals, fish and other common arctic prey, polar bears can grow into large, muscular frames that are beneficial for both hunting and keeping warm in temperatures well below freezing. Despite the full and fluffy appearance that their fur gives them, polar bears are actually quite skinny.

The largest polar bear ever measured was a 12-foot Alaskan polar bear. That’s right, standing on its hind legs, this huge bear was the same size as a… African elephant. Given this high frame, you would expect such a large animal to weigh thousands of pounds. While this isn’t entirely false, it only weighed about 2,200 pounds – which is unusual!

On average, polar bears don’t get much taller on their hind legs than 10 feet. On all fours, this measurement drops to 5 feet at the shoulders. This is slightly shorter than the average adult woman in the United States.

However, despite their height, the average polar bear doesn’t weigh close to 2000 pounds. Usually, males only weigh a little over 1,500 at the most, and females usually weigh no more than 600 pounds.

Still, that doesn’t stop them from being the biggest type of bear!

Kodiak Bear Size

The Kodiak bear is the largest brown bear and, when it comes to the title of the largest kind of bear, a comparison of the size of a polar bear will show that the Kodiak bear is not far away.

When the average Kodiak bear trudges through the Alaskan wilderness on all fours, you can expect his shoulder height to be nearly 4.9 feet tall, just inches away from the polar bear. And when it comes to standing up straight, the Kodiak bear is only 0.2 feet shorter than the polar bear. That’s about the length of a bar of soap, and it’s the only thing stopping the Kodiak bear from stealing the polar bear’s throne.

When it comes to weight, the Kodiak bear balances the scales with the polar bear thanks to its average weight limit of 1,500 pounds. The largest Kodiak bear to ever live in a zoo was estimated to have weighed almost 2,400 pounds when he died in 1987 — which would be more than the largest polar bear ever if true! The “official” record for the largest Kodiak bear stands at 1,656 pounds and was a wild-caught Kodiak bear!

The Kodiak bear’s claws are also nearly twice as long as the polar bear’s, although the latter is known for the sharpness of its claws rather than their size.

Grizzley bear size

Like the Kodiak bear, the grizzly bear is another type of brown bear, although they are slightly smaller. This means that compared to the polar bear, there is a notable difference in size, a difference that may not be as apparent in larger species of brown bears.

On their hind legs, grizzlies usually reach an average maximum of six and a half feet. Many adult people can also reach this same height. Their shoulder height is only a little over 3 feet, which is about the same height as the average 3-year-old in the United States. It’s also about the same shoulder height for many common large dog breeds, such as Great Danes.

Despite being several meters smaller than the polar bear, the grizzly bear is ca range of up to 1,200 pounds!

Grizzly bears have some of the longest claws of any bear species due to their reliance on tree climbing, an activity you’d almost never see a polar bear doing.

Tiger vs Polar Bear Size Comparison:

Tigers are the polar bears of the big cat world. With a shoulder height of up to 42 inches and a total body length of almost 7 feet, tigers are the largest species of wild cat you will encounter in this era.

So how do they compare to polar bears?

Surprisingly not good.

Despite being the largest of the large when it comes to cats, tigers are nearly half the size of polar bears in shoulder height. They also weigh only a fraction of adult male polar bears, with the largest of the tigers weighing only about 660 pounds.

Even the biggest tiger ever, who beat the average length of a polar bear by 11 inches, weighed just 932 pounds. That’s still nearly 600 pounds less than the average maximum weight of polar bears, and more than 1,200 less than the largest polar bear ever measured!