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The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America and (with the polar bear) is the largest land-based predator on earth. There are several recognized subspecies within the brown bear species. While the brown bear's range has shrunk and it has faced local extinctions, it remains listed as a least concern species by the 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. However, the Californian, North African (Atlas bear), and Mexican subspecies were hunted to extinction in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and many of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered. The smallest subspecies, the Himalayan brown bear, is critically endangered, occupying only 2% of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its parts.〔(Himalayan brown bears now critically endangered ) 01-06-2014〕 The Marsican brown bear in central Italy is believed to have a population of just 30 to 40 bears. The brown bear's principal range includes parts of Russia, India, China, Canada, the United States (mostly Alaska), Scandinavia and the Carpathian region (especially Romania).〔 The brown bear is recognized as a national and state animal in several European countries. It is the most widely distributed of all bears. ==Evolution and Taxonomy== The brown bear is sometimes referred to as the ''bruin'', from Middle English. This name originated in the fable, ''History of Reynard the Fox'', translated by William Caxton, from Middle Dutch ''bruun'' or ''bruyn'', meaning ''brown'' (the color).〔American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.〕 During the Old West, the grizzly was termed "Old Ephraim" and sometimes as "Moccasin Joe".〔(Hunting the Grisly and other Sketches ). FullTextArchive.com. Retrieved 15 September 2011.〕 The scientific name of the brown bear, ''Ursus arctos'', comes from the Latin "ursus", meaning "bear",〔Liddell, Henry George and Scott, Robert. ("Ursus." ) ''A Latin Dictionary''. Perseus Digital Library.〕 and Άρκτος "arctos", from the Greek word for bear.〔Liddell, Henry George and Scott, Robert.("Arktos." ) ''A Greek-English Lexicon''. Perseus Digital Library.〕 There have been two ways that people have grouped brown bears, (1) by naming them by the region that they inhabit, and there are hundreds of brown bear names from this process. (2) Scientific taxonomy (biology) is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. Both are valid ways to name bears. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brown bear」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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