Like what we have in a famous saying on how to survive a bear encounter based on its color, “fight back if it’s black, lie down if it’s brown, and run if it’s white.”
In: Biology
The colors have little to do with anything, other than identification.
Black bears (species Ursus americanus) are generally mild mannered bears and fairly timid around humans. If you make yourself appear larger and more frightening, they will assume that you could mess them up and leave.
Brown Bears (species ***Ursus arctos***) are big and strong and pretty much an apex predator. They are much much larger than humans, so there’s little way to make them think you are going to beat them in a fight. So, your best bet is to play dead and hope they won’t try to hurt you anyway. Brown bears also use what is called bluff attacks, so playing dead will make them think they won.
White bears aka Polar Bears (species ***Ursus maritimus***) is the largest bear. They don’t bluff attack, so they are really attacking and won’t stop if you play dead.
The colors refer to the three diffrent species of bear. Polar bear white, grizzly/brown bear brown and black bears black. It has nothing to do with individual fur colors of specific individual bears. Cinnamon bears for example are black bears but with brown fur and you should still “fight back”.
That advice is pretty general, and only really applies to North America. The thinking is that black bears are smaller and more skittish, and will usually run away if you present yourself as a dangerous predator. So stand up tall, yell, wave your arms to make yourself look bigger. In almost all situations you’ll be okay…unless you’ve accidentally cornered a mother bear with her cubs. If you see a cub anywhere, get the hell away.
Grizzly bears and brown bears are far larger and more dangerous. But they don’t naturally see humans as prey. So if you see one anywhere nearby, be still, be quiet, and don’t present yourself as any kind of threat. While a grizzly will also probably leave you alone, if it senses a challenge or danger, it’s more likely to attack you.
Polar bears are incredibly aggressive alpha predators. There’s nothing in their environment that can threaten them, and due to sparse prey they tend to attack almost anything that looks like they could eat it. They’re dangerous in any situation. Run away.
The problem is that black bears can be colored brown and grizzly/brown bears can be colored black. Coloration is generally reliable…but learning the outlines of the different species (like the much larger shoulders of grizzly bears and the rounded snouts of black bears) is a better way to identify them. Black bears are also almost never larger than a person at least in terms of height (they’re still way heavier and stronger), so if you see a bear with shoulders that come up to your belly or chest, it’s a brown or grizzly.
Those are three different species of bear: the American black bear (*Ursus americanus*), the brown or grizzly bear (*Ursus arctos*), and the polar bear (*Ursus maritimus*).
All three are physiologically and behaviorally different. It has nothing to do with color; for example some subspecies of black bear can appear quite brown in coloration (and some are even white), but this doesn’t make them more dangerous.
This mnemonic device is used to help know what to do when you are forced into an encounter with a bear (at least the common US bears). The color of the bear represents which bear you are dealing with (identifying colors is easier than trying to gauge taxonomic classification while simultaneously peeing your pants): Black = American Black Bear; Brown = Grizzly Bear; White = Polar Bear. Here’s the logic for each:
“If it’s black, fight back” – American Black Bears are generally ~~weary~~ wary of humans and see themselves as prey, so if you are forced into a violent encounter with a black bear, you should fight back. Black bears are roughly 175-400 lbs and stand upright around 5 feet.
“If it’s brown, lie down” – Grizzly/Brown Bears are much more territorial and will defend that territory if you enter their range. Thus, lying down and playing dead gives you a better shot at survival than trying to attack or run away from the bear. Grizzlies can get up to 700 lbs and stand closer to 7 feet.
“If it’s white, say goodnight” – Polar bears are the absolute apex predator of the frozen north, capable of tracking prey for days on end over land or water, smelling prey from over a Km away. They don’t bluff attacks as other bears do. Size wise, they can reach up to 1200 pounds and stand 10 feet tall. So if it’s white, say goodnight, cause you ain’t winning, you ain’t escaping, you ain’t tricking it.
Black bears are smaller and top out at 400-500 pounds mostly, at least on the east coast. Occasionally males get to be 700 or more, but it’s fairly uncommon. You’re close enough to their size they may second guess a fight for fear of being hurt, and also can be skittish. So if it’s black, fight back.
Brown bears are grizzlies and Kodiak. 1000 pounds plus. Don’t fight back, you’ll piss them off and aren’t big enough to intimidate them at all. They might stop if they think you’re dead already, or only bite you once or twice to be sure. So if it’s brown, lay down.
If it’s white, it’s a polar bear. It’s going to eat you either way, they eat dead things and rarely pass up food of any type. It’s scarce where they’re from. They’re also 1500 pounds and there’s nowhere to run from them. If it’s white, goodnight.
I always wince a little at these sorts of rhymes and simplified explanations regarding north American bears.
There are three north American species of bears and they come in three sizes (small – black, medium – grizzly, large – polar) although there is some size overlap, a large male black bear will be larger than a young grizzly.
In general, all bear attacks are going to either be offensive (wants to eat you) or defensive (feels threatened/defending cubs, etc.) and the type of attack should dictate what to do.
If ANY bear species sees you from far away and comes up and tries to attack you it is an offensive attack and playing dead isn’t an option unless you want to be an easy meal. You’ve got to scare or threaten the bear away with loud noises or escape somehow.
Offensive attack based on species: A large male black bear might do this, the smaller ones unlikely. Grizzly bears are larger and more likely to see if they can eat you, especially a mature male which is quite large. Polar bears are freaking huge and if they are approaching, they are 100% sizing you up as a possible meal.
Defensive attack based on species: Imagine you’re hiking quietly through the woods and startle a bear, especially a bear with cubs. The bear rears up. This is likely a defensive attack and playing dead might be a strategy to allow the bear to move away without you getting killed. The bear is not interested in eating you but is interested in leaving the area. This scenario is entirely possible with a black bear, they are the most common bear in north America by far. This scenario is also possible with a grizzly in the right habitat. I can’t imagine this scenario ever happening with a polar bear, they live in un-treed areas and it seems unlikely that you could ever sneak up on a polar bear accidentally. And if you’re thinking about sneaking up on any bear intentionally. say as a photographer, you’d better have a plan in mind for when the bear detects you.
…take flight if it’s white?
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