the brown bear is the national or state animal in several european countries
the smallest brown bears females during spring among barrenground populations can weigh so little as to roughly match the body mass of males of the smallest living bear species the sun bear helarctos malayanus while the largest coastal populations attain sizes broadly similar to those of the largest living bear species the polar bear
 that study found surprisingly similar y chromosomes in brown bear populations as far apart as norway and coastal alaska indicating extensive gene flow across eurasia and north america