Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

The brown bear (Ursus arctos), is widely distributed throughout the Pelearctic
(Europe and Asia) and Nearctic (North America) faunal regions. In the Palearctic
region, U. arctos is commonly referred to as the brown bear, whereas in North
America, it is called the grizzly bear. The brown bear is one of the eight species of
bears distributed worldwide, and one of six members of the genus Ursus. The brown
bear occupies a diverse array of habitats, from arctic tundra to boreal of Russia in the
north and coastal forests, to the mountain forest and grassland ecotone of the
Himalayas in the south (Servheen, 1990). The Asian range of brown bear extends
from Turkey, Iran and Afganistan to Pakistan and along the Himalayas of India,
Nepal and Bhutan, and then north and east through the mountains of central Asia,
Tibet, Northern China and Mangolia to Russia (Jackson, 1990). Along the Himalayan-
Tibetan region, two subspecies of brown bears have been reported (Prater, 1990 and
Schaller, 1998). The brown bear subspecies, Ursus arctos pruinosus, which is known
as Tibetan brown bear, has been recorded from Damodar Kunda valley, Mustang
district, Nepal (Gurung, 2004), and the subspecies, Ursus arctos isabellinus often
known as red bear is believed to occur in the northwestern parts of Nepal (Schaller,
1998). In China, the Himalayan brown bear has a more northerly distribution and
inhabits high mountainous areas above the tree line and it has been recorded from the
Tianshan and Pamir mountains in the western Xinjiang Uygur region (Ma, 1983).
Three subspecies of brown bear has been recorded from these regions. In Pakistan,
brown bear population is very small and is now distributed over three mountain
ranges and four intermountain highlands, the western Himalaya, northern Karakoram,
Hinhu Kush range, and to the Pamir range in Afghanistan. The sizes of these
populaions do not exceed 20 individuals. The Deosai plateau in western Himalaya
hosts the most stable population of about 40 individuals (Nawaz, 2005 and 2007). In
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