Kodiak Giants

Range of kodiak bear alaska courtesy alaska dept fish and game

By: Wendy LaFever

Did you know that the largest bears in the world are not polar bears? It's true. Polar bears are huge, but there's actually an even bigger bruin in the form of the Kodiak bear. Kodiak bears are a subspecies of brown bears, and they're only found in the Kodiak Archipelago off the Alaskan shore.

What makes a Kodiak bear different from your average grizzly? Well, for starters, they've been isolated from all other bears for at least 12,000 years. This isolation means that they're genetically different from brown bears that live elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada. Their heads are shaped differently. But the difference you'll be able to see without DNA sequencing and an X-ray machine is their size. The average male griz weighs between 500 and 900 pounds, but a Kodiak male may get up to 1,500 pounds—a critter that weighs as much as six football players!

photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Because the Kodiak bear's habitat is limited, there can only ever be a small number of them. Right now, it's estimated that there are about 3,500 of them. Because the land area of Kodiak is so small, that's still a very healthy .7 bears for every square mile. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Kodiaks are doing quite well, with healthy breeding populations that are either holding stable or increasing slightly.

For this reason, scientifically managed hunting of the bears takes place twice a year, during the spring and fall seasons. However, due to the relatively small number of huntable bears and the fact that this massive bruin makes a world-class trophy, a Kodiak bear hunt can cost more than an African safari. Out-of-state hunters must use the services of a guide, and guide fees alone can run between $10,000-$22,000...add in transportation costs to these wild, remote islands and you can see just how much a single hunter adds to Alaska's economy and conservation dollars.

Want to learn more about the brown bears of Alaska? Visit wildlife.alaska.gov and dig in!