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 . It is one of the two largest terrestrial carnivorans alive today , rivaled in body size only by its close cousin , the polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) , which is much less variable in size and averages larger due to this . The brown bear is recognized as a national and state animal in several European countries . 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 .