Talk:Kodiak Bear

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Someone had claimed that Kodiak Bears stand 19' tall and that even larger bears had been worshiped by the Alutiiq people. They claimed that small children were sacrified to the alleged monster bear, but gave no citation. I brought things back to planet Earth. I very much doubt a Kodiak would be interested in human children as a food source. There is no recorded attack on children by them, and few on adult humans.

Re:--Kodiak Bears do not grow to 19 ft tall. 9-feet-tall, yes. The tallest Kodiak Boars can stand over 10-feet-tall. The Giant short faced Bear of the ice age, is estimated to have been much larger, averaging around 11-feet tall when standing, and weighing from 1300 to 1800 lbs. However, it is thought that some indivudal giants among this species likely exceeded 12 and even 13 feet in stature, weighing as much as 2,000 lbs and more, with a 14 to 15 foot vertical reach.--71.222.54.25 21:08, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Language?

Article claims that bears have evolved a complex language. I'm not sure what is meant by this exactly. Have edited to request a source. ~Jeff Soules

The bear's language consists of a complex array of verbal and physical ques. Bears rely on these to avoid fatal conflicts, express needs, and interact with other bears and people.

Larry Van Daele, PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game Kodiak Alaska

[edit] Kilo and meter?

some 50% of the world or so dont understand inch and pund, and i am to lazy... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.26.249.174 (talk) 16:35, 6 February 2007 (UTC).

Tried to fix your concerns. If I missed any, let me know.

Larry Van Daele

[edit] aerial???

This paragraph (in the size info) appears to have some kind of error: the sequence "comparable in size to the Polar Bear the aerial version of the bear is much smaller" doesn't parse, AFAICT, and I'm not at all sure what an "aerial version of a bear" could be, unless there was a veterenary catapult involved ...

Kodiak bears are generally considered to be among the largest of all terrestrial bears, 
being comparable in size to the Polar Bear the aerial version of the bear is much smaller. 
Altogether, sixteen of the twenty largest brown bears killed by hunters have come from the 
archipelago. A large male can stand over 10 feet tall when on his hind legs, and five feet tall 
when on all four legs. [1] There are legends and early reports of much larger bears, but these 
have not been verified.

Wait, I get it: someone's being cute. "largest of all terrestrial bears ... aerial bears are smaller ..."

I'm removing the "aerial bears" thing, added 02:53, 2 March 2007 70.167.247.134 (Talk) (→Size and appearance), the only content in that particular anonymous contribution.

Jackrepenning 06:08, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I do not have a clue what an aerial bear is either...or how it got in there.

The other information is correct as written.

Larry Van Daele, PhD Alaska Department of Fish and Game Kodiak, Alaska

[edit] bears in captivity

I just added a block quote from Terry Lincoln, director of the Bismarck, ND zoo re: Clyde, largest Kodiak bear in captivity. Previously I had read claims of weights in captivity over 3000 lbs, so I did some research. This quote is from an email I received from Lincoln dated 031207. I haven't referenced it yet because I'm not quite sure how to go about it.

(Ok, I believe it's ok now.

--Gypsyleathers 15:54, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Superior??

[edit] kodiak bears

do kodiaks hunt in packsRpriest 17:35, 26 July 2007 (UTC)rpriest17:35, 26 July 2007 (UTC)Rpriest

[edit] Revert to VERY old, inadequate version -- Please help rewrite the article

I'm sorry I had to do this, but the vast majority of the article was a blatant violation of [1] GOV (talk) 14:16, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

As the author of both the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website you reference and most of the substantial edits to the Kodiak bear wiki article, I do not understand why you felt it necessary to revert the article back to an inadequate and inaccurate version... Please reinstate it so that I do not have to rewrite the whole thing again. Taquka (talk)Taquka

the very oldest versions of this article are much more complete than the present one (though, it seems, largely uncited). should we try to bring that back? in present form, it might as well be merged with brown bear. - Metanoid (talk, email) 16:50, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

I restored parts of an older version. Apparently, the old version was removed because it had several paragraphs copy/pasted from here[2]. I reworded and added only factual stuff. However, I have to note that this is a US government work and so it is not subjected to copyright. --Enric Naval (talk) 12:28, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Correction!

I don't know who is screwing with this page, or where some of you people are getting your information, but the Kodiak Brown Bear is not endangered It's not even threated, frankly it's hunted, and I don't mean just by natives. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Novahawk9 (talk • contribs) 09:48, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi Novahawk9, this reference confirms what you are saying, however this reference appears to suggest otherwise. PhilKnight (talk) 14:45, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Both sources are from 2003, but the first source is talking about experiences on 2002, and the source that suggests otherwise is citing a 1966 study to explain what was the history of the protection. So, the second source is good for explaining what was the situation at that time, but not for sourcing the current status. --Enric Naval (talk) 14:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

It's not endangered. I cited the Endangered Species program from the US Fish and Wildlife service. I changed the threat level to "Near Threatened" because of genetic diversity concerns. Also, the hunting is heavily regulated. --Enric Naval (talk) 12:25, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

I finally found the UICHN Red List, that has it a Least Concern, but it got deleted because it was on the same paragraph as other information that was incorrect or redundant[3]. I'll restore the UICHN because it's the only source on the article for the conservation status on the infobox, and see if any of the other info can be recovered. (the status was changed to "conservation dependant", but it wasn't cited as such anywhere at the article that I could find, maybe it was buried on one of the references) --Enric Naval (talk) 14:33, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

I only restored the minimum to source the least concern status and the not endangered status [4] --Enric Naval (talk) 14:52, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

P.D.: the status should be put in context, and integrated with the rest of the text. Something similar to "On xxxx, Kodiak Bear status was set to YY due to zzzz. On uuuu, it was set to LC thanks to the recovery efforts of uuuuu and circumnstances vvvvvv, sssss and tttttt, which caused the population to grow and to have a better habitat. Kodiak Bear was listed as endangered by agency ooooo from pppp to qqqq due to rrrrrrr." --Enric Naval (talk) 16:51, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kodiak Brown or Polar Bear; which is larger?

Both the Polar Bear and Kodiak Brown Bear pages and linked articles describe the same upper limit (10+ ft. 1,500+ lb.).

The Polar Bear page describes the Polar Bear as the largest land carnivore, while the Kodiak Brown Bear page list the Kodiak Brown Bear as the largest land omnivore. This is only a crafty way of not having to say outright which is larger. Incognitum Poinete, ede ede; tachu tachu! (talk) 22:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

See "The polar bear is the largest member of the bear family, with the exception of Alaska’s Kodiak brown bears, which equal polar bears in size." [5]. They are the same size. --Enric Naval (talk) 16:52, 1 June 2008 (UTC)