Syrian brown bear
subspecies of mammal

The Syrian brown bear (Ursus arctos syriacus, formally Ursus arctos arctos ) is a medium-sized and endangered subspecies of brown bear native to the Middle East and West-Central Asia, particularly around the Caucasus Mountains.
Characteristics
The Syrian brown bear's fur is usually very light brown and straw-coloured. The hair on the withers is longer, with a grey-brown base, and is often a different shade from the rest of the body, seen in some individuals as a dark stripe running across the back. The lighter colors usually appear at higher altitudes. Their legs are commonly darker than the rest of their body. It is the only known bear in the world to have white claws. It is a rather small bear. Adult males have skulls measuring approximately 30–40 cm (12–16 in). The Syrian brown bear weighs up to 550 lb (250 kg), and measures from 101–140 cm (40–55 in) from nose to tail.
Populations in the Caucasus were thought to belong to Ursus arctus syriacus, and to overlap parts of the Eurasian brown bear's range.
The public source identifies “Syrian brown bear” as subspecies of mammal. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Syrian, brown and bear.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q839509. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Syrian brown bear” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.