NPS Photo / F. Jimenez 
NPS Photo / L. Law Whats the difference between a coastal brown bear and a grizzly?Both of these bear species, ursus arctos, are essentially the same, except for their location and diet.A coastal brown bear is a brown bear that has access to coastal resources like salmon, clams, and other marine prey. A grizzly bear is a brown bear that survives off of interior resources like berries, grasses, caribou and moose. Coastal brown bears are often larger in size than interior grizzlies. Brown bears on Kodiak island are also coastal brown bears but are sometimes called Kodiak Bears. These bears are the same as Katmai bears, but Kodiak has an insular gene pool, so the genes for being exceedingly large get passed down. Interior grizzly bears are often more spread out, with home ranges that may or may not overlap with other grizzlies. Unlike grizzlies, coast brown bears are more tolerant of each other because their food source is often concentrated in one area like a river or sedge meadow 
NPS Photo Are the Katmai bears coastal or grizzly?The brown bears with a home range that overlaps with Katmai are coastal brown bears. Even the bears at Brooks River are considered coastal, even though they aren’t on an ocean coast, because they survive off of the strong salmon run that comes from Bristol Bay.Coastal resources in Katmai include all five species of pacific salmon: sockeye (red), coho (silver), chinook (king), humpies (pink), and dog (chum) salmon. Coastal resources also include food like clams and sedges which are more prevalent on the pacific, or eastern ocean coast, in Katmai. More About Coastal Brown Bears
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Last updated: September 10, 2025