The brown bear is an animal.
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae . The brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) is a large bear with the widest distribution of any living ursid . 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 ( IUCN ) 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 .