International Association for Bear Research and Management
The International Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) is a non-profit tax-exempt organization open to professional biologists, wildlife managers and others dedicated to the conservation of all bear species. The organization has 550-plus members from more than 60 countries. It supports the scientific management of bears through research and the distribution of information.
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Largest bear
The largest bear alive today is the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), native to Greenland, Svalbard, Arctic Russia, Arctic Canada and Arctic USA. Adult males typically weigh 400–600 kilograms (880–1,320 pounds), and have a nose-to-tail length of 2.4–2.6 metres (7 feet 10 inches–8 feet 6 inches). The male Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), a subspecies of brown bear found on Kodiak Island and the adjacent Afognak and Shuyak islands, in the Gulf of Alaska, USA, is usually shorter in length than the polar bear, but more robustly built.