Commonest bear

The world's commonest species of bear is the American black bear Ursus americanus, which has an estimated population of 600,000–800,000 individuals. This is equivalent to twice the total number of all of the world's other seven species of bear combined. It occurs throughout North America, from northern Alaska southward to the northern mountains of Mexico, inhabiting much of the continent's forested regions. Although it shares North America with the brown bear (which includes the grizzly bear subspecies) and the polar bear, the American black bear is most closely related to the Asian black bear, and these two species are believed to have diverged from one another 4.08 million years ago.