Cantabrian brown bear

The Cantabrian brown bear, Iberian brown bear, or Iberian bear (scientifically Ursus arctos pyrenaicus) is a population of Eurasian brown bears (Ursus arctos arctos) living in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain. On average, females weigh , but can reach a weight of . Males average , though they can weigh as much as . The bear measures between in length, and between at shoulder height. In Spain, it is known as the Oso pardo cantábrico and, more locally, in Asturias as Osu. It is timid and will avoid human contact whenever possible. The Cantabrian brown bear can live for around 25–30 years in the wild. Believed to have originated in Asia, the brown bear (Ursus arctos, L. 1758) spread across the Northern Hemisphere, colonising much of the Eurasian land mass as well as North America. Experts on bears are continuing debate on the scientific classification of bears, of which there are currently eight recognised species although some experts recognise more subspecies. In the early 20th century, Cabrera (1914) considered the Cantabrian brown bear to be a distinct subspecies of European brown bear (U. a. arctos; in itself a classification currently under debate) and named it Ursus arctos pyrenaicus (Fischer, 1829), characterised by the yellow colouring of the points of its hair and by its black paws. Since then, however, phylogenetic and mitochondrial DNA research has led to the general scientific consensus that the European brown bear is not a separate subspecies. These recent studies have also found that the European populations fall into two major genetic lineages; an eastern type and a western type. The Cantabrian brown bear forms a part of the western type, the effective barriers of the Pleistocene ice sheets of the Alps and the Balkans having directed the spread of the brown bear respectively, north and eastwards and south and westwards.