<P> The brown bear is usually called the grizzly bear in North America . It once ranged throughout much of the continent . </P> <P> As many as 20,000 brown bears range throughout the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and British Columbia, and in the majority of Alberta . Canada has one of the most stable brown bear populations today . They reach their current eastern limits of their distribution in North America in a majority of Nunavut, northeastern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba, where they range as far east as the west coast of the Hudson Bay from around Rankin Inlet south to Southern Indian Lake . </P> <P> The brown bear has lost 98% of its habitat in the lower 48 states . About 95% of the brown bear population in the United States is in Alaska, though in the lower 48 states, they are repopulating gradually but steadily along the Rockies and the western Great Plains . The Alaskan population is estimated at 32,000 individuals . The largest populations of brown bears in the lower 48 states are found in the 23,300 - km2 Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the 24,800 - km2 Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem . The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of northwest Wyoming is estimated to hold about 674--839 grizzly bears, followed slightly the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem of northwest Montana with about 765 animals, the Cabinet - Yaak Ecosystem of northwest Montana and northeast Idaho with about 42 - 65 bears of the species, the Selkirk Ecosystem of northeast Washington and northwest Idaho with only about 40--50 animals and even less the North Cascades Ecosystem of northcentral Washington with about 5--10 grizzlies . These five ecosystems combine for a total of a maximum 1,729 wild grizzlies still persisting in the contiguous United States . Unfortunately, these populations are isolated from each other, inhibiting any genetic flow between ecosystems and creating low genetic diversity in remaining populations which can have negative long - time effects . This isolation poses one of the greatest threats to the future survival of the grizzly bear in the contiguous United States . Although there is no record of their existence in the United States east of the Rocky Mountain and Great Plain regions in human history, fossil records from Kentucky and the Ungava Peninsula do in fact show that grizzly bears once roamed in eastern North America . </P> <P> Although many people hold the belief some brown bears may be present in Mexico they are almost certainly extinct . The last Mexican grizzly bear was shot in 1976 . None had been seen since 1960 prior . </P>

Where do brown bears live in the us
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