There are two contenders in the battle for the title biggest bear in the world, the polar bear and the Kodiak bear, an island subspecies of brown bear from southwestern Alaska.
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Males of both may exceed 600kg, much heavier than grizzly bears, say, which usually weigh in at less than 400kg. Body weight can be misleading, though, because it fluctuates according to fat reserves.
Both Kodiak bear and polar bear males can measure up to 10 feet tall when standing on their hind legs - a pretty impressive sight - while grizzlies are usually a foot or so shorter.
However when it comes to determining for certain the biggest bear it’s hard to compare the athletic, lankier polar bear with the more robust, stockier Kodiak. While the former’s bones are relatively long, for example, the Kodiak’s skull is slightly bigger. This is probably one to call a tie.
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Top image: Kodiak bear © Yathin S Krishnappa, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
