Claim: The brown bear is several countries' national or state animal.

The brown bear -LRB- Ursus arctos -RRB- is a large bear with the widest distribution of any living ursid . The species is distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America . It is one of the two largest terrestrial carnivorans alive today , rivaled in body size only by its close cousin , the polar bear -LRB- Ursus maritimus -RRB- , which is much less variable in size and averages larger due to this . There are several recognized subspecies , many of which are quite well-known within their native ranges , found in the brown bear species .   The brown bear 's principal range includes parts of Russia , Central Asia , China , Canada , the United States -LRB- mostly Alaska -RRB- , Scandinavia and the Carpathian region -LRB- especially Romania -RRB- , Anatolia , and Caucasus . The brown bear is recognized as a national and state animal in several European countries .   While the brown bear 's range has shrunk and it has faced local extinctions , it remains listed as a least concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature -LRB- IUCN -RRB- with a total population of approximately 200,000 . As of 2012 , this and the American black bear are the only bear species not classified as threatened by the IUCN . However , the Californian , North African -LRB- Atlas bear -RRB- , and Mexican subspecies were hunted to extinction in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries , and many of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered . One of the smaller-bodied subspecies , the Himalayan brown bear , is critically endangered , occupying only 2 % of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its parts . The Marsican brown bear , one of several currently isolated populations of the main Eurasian brown bear race , in central Italy is believed to have a population of just 30 to 40 bears .