Grizzly bear Facts for Kids

Ursus arctos horribilis · UR-sus ARK-tos hor-RIB-ih-lis

A big brown bear with a shoulder hump, strong enough to dig.

🏃 35 mph56 km/h1
⚖️ 243 to 661 lb110 to 300 kg2
📏 5 to 7 ft1.5 to 2.1 m3 long
🎂 25 years25 years2
🍽️ plants and animals
Doing fine (Least Concern)

Grizzly bears are big brown bears. They eat berries, roots and fish. They sleep through the winter in a den.

A grizzly has a big hump of muscle on its shoulders, which powers its digging for roots and squirrels. It eats almost anything, from berries and pine nuts to salmon. In late summer it eats and eats to put on fat for its long winter sleep in a den.

Grizzly bears are a kind of brown bear found in North America. In winter they den up and live off their stored fat, and mothers give birth to tiny cubs inside the den. Grizzlies can run fast and swim, but they usually avoid people. In national parks, rangers ask visitors to stay far away and carry bear spray, for the bears' safety as well as their own.

How big is a grizzly bear?

🧒 our measuring child, 4 ft1.2 m🐻 Grizzly bear, 6 ft1.8 m long

Grizzly bear in numbers

Length	5 to 7 ft1.5 to 2.1 m3no grizzly-only length found
Height at the shoulder	3.3 ft1 m4Yellowstone grizzly
Weight	243 to 661 lb110 to 300 kg2
Top speed (running)	35 mph56 km/h1running
How long it lives	25 years25 years2
What it eats	roots, berries, grasses, nuts, fish, insects and meat
Where it lives	the mountains and forests of western North America, from Alaska to Wyoming
What kind	Mammals
Is it in danger?	Doing fine (Least Concern)5

A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.

Wow!

The hump on its back is a big shoulder muscle for digging.
Its cubs are born tiny, in the middle of winter.
Many grizzlies eat more plants than meat.

Compare the grizzly bear

Friends and neighbours

Three questions

What does the grizzly bear eat?

Plants and animalsFishTiny sea life

The answer: Plants and animals. It eats roots, berries, grasses, nuts, fish, insects and meat.

Where does the grizzly bear live?

OceanForestPonds

The answer: Forest. It lives in the mountains and forests of western North America, from Alaska to Wyoming.

Which is longer, the grizzly bear or the lion?

The grizzly bearThey're the sameThe lion

The answer: The lion. Look at them side by side on the compare stage.

Books about the grizzly bear, free at the library

Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the grizzly bear for free.

Where these numbers come from

National Park Service, Glacier, checked 30 October 2026.
US Fish and Wildlife Service (grizzly bear species profile), checked 30 October 2026.
National Park Service, Bears (brown bears), checked 30 October 2026.
National Park Service, Yellowstone (grizzly vs black bear), checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
Wikidata, Grizzly bear (Q171004), checked 30 October 2026.