Bear size comparison: polar bear, Kodiak and grizzly to scale

Bear size comparison chart: every bear on all fours

Kodiak bears and polar bears are the biggest bears alive: a large male Kodiak stands 5 ft / 152.4 cm at the shoulder on all fours, a typical adult polar bear 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm. The smallest is the sun bear at 2 ft 4 in / 70 cm – a large Kodiak is about 2.2 times as tall. Between them sit the giant panda, the sloth bear and the spectacled bear, all about 2 ft 6 in / 75 cm, and the American black bear at 3 ft / 91.4 cm.

Bears are measured at the shoulder, the top of the back above the front legs, the way park services and zoos give it; the head usually hangs lower. Most numbers are typical adults or the middle of a range. Three are not: the Kodiak figure is the upper, large-male end of its range, and the two extinct giants – the giant short-faced bear (4 ft 11 in / 150 cm) and the cave bear (5 ft / 152.4 cm) – are cautious museum values; other museums give larger sizes. Tallest first:

Polar bear vs grizzly bear size comparison

A typical adult polar bear stands about 7.2 in / 18.3 cm taller at the shoulder than an adult grizzly: 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm against 3 ft 6 in / 106.7 cm. The grizzly figure comes from Yellowstone, where the National Park Service gives one value for both sexes; brown bears in general reach about 4 ft / 121.9 cm, and grizzlies and Kodiak bears are both brown bears. The American black bear measures 3 ft / 91.4 cm, about 6 in / 15.2 cm less than a grizzly.

A large male Kodiak is about 10.8 in / 27.4 cm taller than the typical polar bear – but that compares a large male with an average adult, and large male polar bears also stand well above the average. For a fair look, compare adults with adults: open the bear scene, tap the polar bear, and the card below the chart shows how much taller or shorter every other bear is. More in the guide “Polar bear size comparison: on all fours, standing up and next to a grizzly”.

Bear size compared to a human: standing up

Standing on its hind legs, a large male polar bear reaches 9 ft 10 in / 3 m – about 1.8 times the height of an average young man (5 ft 7 in / 170.8 cm). A grizzly standing up is about 7 ft 10 in / 240 cm tall and an American black bear about 6 ft / 182.9 cm, 4.8 in / 12.1 cm taller than that young man. On all fours even a large male Kodiak stays below him, at about 89 percent of his height.

Standing heights are rarer in the sources than shoulder heights. For polar bears no source gives an average, so Height Studio shows the large male that Polar Bears International describes, and the grizzly is a typical value between the ranges different park pages give:

How to use Height Studio

1. Add yourself and others

   Open “Add person”, type a name and a height – 5′9″, 69 in, 175 or 1.75 m all work – and pick a figure, a build and a color. Children, teens and older people have their own silhouettes. “Add to comparison” puts the person into the chart.

2. Pick from the library

   In “Library”, type what you are looking for – a country, an animal, a building – or open a category. Every row shows the size and what was measured, and “Order” lists the figures A–Z or “Tallest first”.

3. Measure and compare

   Tap a figure to draw its measuring line across the chart. A card shows how much taller or shorter everyone else is and, for big things, how many of you it would take to reach the top.

4. Compare by length

   “Length” lines everything up by its length instead: ships, planes, trains, cars, whales and dinosaurs side by side from a start line, with people and rockets lying down. “Height” switches back.

5. Zoom, move and go full screen

   Pinch or use + and − to zoom, drag to move along the line-up, and “Fit all” brings everything back into view. “Full screen” gives the chart the whole screen; on a phone, turn it sideways for the widest view.

6. Share or save

   “Share link” copies a link with the whole comparison and “Save PNG” downloads it as a picture. In “Line-up” you can rename, recolor, reorder or remove every figure.

Popular comparisons

Tap one to load it into the chart above, then add yourself next to it.

• Polar bear vs. Grizzly bear – 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm against 3 ft 6 in / 106.7 cm: a difference of 7.2 in / 18.3 cm.
• Kodiak bear (large male) vs. Polar bear – 5 ft / 152.4 cm against 4 ft 1 in / 125 cm: about 1.2 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 10.8 in / 27.4 cm.
• Polar bear standing up (large male) vs. Average young man – 9 ft 10 in / 3 m against 5 ft 7 in / 170.8 cm: about 1.8 times as tall, a difference of 4 ft 3 in / 129.2 cm.
• Grizzly bear standing up vs. American black bear standing up – 7 ft 10 in / 240 cm against 6 ft / 182.9 cm: about 1.3 times as tall, a difference of 1 ft 10 in / 57.1 cm.
• Brown bear vs. American black bear – 4 ft / 121.9 cm against 3 ft / 91.4 cm: about 1.3 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 1 ft / 30.5 cm.
• Giant short-faced bear vs. Grizzly bear – 4 ft 11 in / 150 cm against 3 ft 6 in / 106.7 cm: about 1.4 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 1 ft 5 in / 43.3 cm.
• Cave bear vs. Brown bear – 5 ft / 152.4 cm against 4 ft / 121.9 cm: about 1.3 times as tall at the shoulder, a difference of 12 in / 30.5 cm.
• Giant panda vs. Sun bear – 2 ft 6 in / 75 cm against 2 ft 4 in / 70 cm: a difference of 2 in / 5 cm.

Tips for better comparisons

• Measure in the morning, barefoot. You are tallest right after waking up and lose a little height over the day. The guide How to measure your height at home shows an exact method with a wall and a book.
• Start from an idea. “Ideas to try” below the chart loads ready line-ups – family, dinosaurs, the tallest buildings, the solar system – that you can change freely.
• Stand next to your country. Search for your country in “Library” and add its average man or woman, or open the average height by country page with the whole ranking.
• No account needed – but mind what a link shows. A shared link keeps the whole comparison in its address, so a bookmark saves it. Our server never sees that part, but anyone you send it to can read the names. Use initials for real people, or send the PNG.

How do I convert centimeters to feet and inches?

Divide the centimeters by 2.54 to get inches, then take out whole groups of 12 as feet: 175 cm ÷ 2.54 = 68.9 in, which is 5 ft 8.9 in – about 5′9″. The other way round, multiply the inches by 2.54: 5′9″ is 69 in, or 175.3 cm. Or leave it to the tool: type either one and switch with the “ft / in” and “cm / m” buttons. The chart rounds to the nearest inch; the line-up keeps the exact value.

What is measured: without shoes, at the shoulder, nose to tail

• People stand straight, without shoes. Children show the WHO median for their age; country averages are the mean height of 19-year-olds in 2019, estimated by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration from measured data.
• Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, as zoos and breed standards do. The figure stands with its shoulder on that height, so a horse’s head rises above the line.
• Long animals – snakes, whales, sharks and most dinosaurs – are measured nose to tail, so the drawing is scaled by its length. Dinosaur sizes are museum estimates from fossils.
• Buildings use their official height to the architectural top, spires included; mountains their height above sea level. Planets sit on the ground like balls and are drawn by their diameter, and altitudes such as the Kármán line run across the chart.

Where the numbers come from

The figures in the library rest on 406 source pages – nothing is guessed. The one exception is marked as such: mythical creatures are legends, so their sizes come from the stories that tell of them or are illustration sizes, and each one carries a legend tag. Typical values are averages or the middle of the range a source gives, so real individuals vary. A few of the main sources by category:

• People & ages: World Health Organization, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
• Famous people: Guinness World Records, NBA.com, Team USA
• Sports: FIBA, Volleyball World, International Journal of Morphology
• Animals: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Animal Diversity Web, American Kennel Club
• Prehistoric: Natural History Museum, London, Field Museum, Chicago, Guinness World Records
• Mythical creatures: Project Gutenberg, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Internet Archive
• Tiny world: Animal Diversity Web, The Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticultural Society
• Objects: The IFAB, FIBA, FIVB
• Vehicles: Lufthansa Group, NASA, SpaceX
• Buildings: CTBUH Skyscraper Center, U.S. National Park Service, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
• Nature: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Woodland Trust, Guinness World Records
• Space: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Science, NASA
• Altitudes: FAI, NASA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Countries: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Every source with its link is on the sources page.

More height comparisons

• Height comparison chart
• Average height by country
• Dinosaur size comparison
• Tallest buildings in the world
• Tallest man in the world
• Animal size comparison
• Cat size comparison
• Shark size comparison
• Spider size comparison
• Length comparison
• Ship size comparison
• Planet size comparison