What species of bear is the largest?

Odonnell

MALE POLAR BEARS. 1. Polar bears are the largest land carnivore. 2. Male polar bears (boars) grow two to three times the size of female polar bears (sows). Boars weigh about 350 to more than 650 kg (772-1,433 lb.) and are about 2.5 to 3 m (8.2-9.8 ft.) long (Stirling, 1988). 3. Sows weigh about 150 to 250 kg (331-551 lb.) and are about 2 to 2.5 m (6.6-8.2 ft.) long. Pregnant females can weigh as much as 500 kg (1,102 lb.) (Stirling, 1988). 4. The largest polar bear ever recorded was a male weighing 1,002 kg (2,209 lb.) and measuring 3.7 m (12 ft.) long (Domico, 1988). Body shape. Compared to other bears, polar bears have elongated bodies and long slender necks. Fri May 05 22:36:48 CDT 2000 May 02 02, 12:29 PM

Son of The Household Cavalry

Just in case Jurassic Park is real and not a work of fiction. The biggest bear Arctodus simus, the giant short-faced bear, was probably the largest bear ever to have lived, towering over even today's largest polar or grizzly bears. Now extinct, it once roamed across both North and South America. Fossilized remains recovered from California's La Brea Tar Pits show this animal had the long legs of a runner. It would have been a truly fearsome predator. It died out about 12,000 years ago. http://exn.ca/bears/bears.cfm?Show=Facts May 02 02, 12:56 PM