There are eight residing species of bears on Earth, and understanding the distinction between them is crucial to staying secure of their habitat. Bear biologist and podcast host Wes Larson shared his private hazard rating with Backpacker.
Up to date April 28, 2026 08:43AM
By means of Could 20, we’re celebrating every part bear as a part of Backpacker‘s annual Bear Month.
Bears are a type of uncommon animals that we really are justified in being nervous round: Regardless that assaults by them are extraordinarily unusual, after they do happen, bears can pose a critical risk to human life and limb. As a bear biologist, wildlife battle skilled, and host of Tooth and Claw Podcast, I’ve seen quite a lot of web posters weigh in on which bear species is probably the most harmful. However the precise knowledge paint an surprising image. After spending the higher a part of my profession researching bear assaults and dealing with 4 of the 8 species of bear, right here is my private hazard rating.
A be aware: I’m basing these scores totally on the behavioral traits of the bear species, not on assault statistics, which rely closely on the vary of the bear and inhabitants density of people inside that vary.
8. Andean Bear
These bears are the one species that lives in South America, which means that Paddington—who got here from “deepest, darkest Peru”—should be one. Actually the real-life Andean bears are in all probability the closest to Paddington behaviorally talking. Also called spectacled bears, Andean bears dwell in each the excessive páramo and cloud forests of northwestern South America, the place they largely eat bromeliads, fruits and different vegetation. Though maulings have occurred, I may solely discover a handful within the scientific literature, and didn’t encounter a single fatality. That’s to not say people don’t find yourself in battle with this bear, which has been identified to kill livestock and pets.
7. Big Panda
Whilst you may make an argument that these torpid bruins belong in spot quantity 8, there are just a few assaults from pandas reported in research, nearly all of them occurring in zoos. Regardless of the frequent notion that big pandas are docile and clumsy, when human provocation makes them cranky sufficient, these bamboo-loving bears can do some actual injury. Bites which have occurred in zoos are simply as extreme as you’d anticipate from any bear, and are sometimes a results of zookeepers or guests turning into too complacent with a probably harmful animal. With that mentioned, no big panda has but killed a human.
6. American Black Bear
Throughout their vary, American black bears critically injure fewer than a dozen individuals and kill one on common yearly. That will sound like lots, however on condition that there are round 800,000 American black bears within the wild—about double the variety of the entire different species mixed—it’s fairly superb we don’t see extra. That speaks to their shy and conflict-averse nature: American black bears will nearly all the time decide flight over combat. On the uncommon events they do throw down, it’s as a result of a human has provoked them, they’ve grow to be food-conditioned sufficient that they’ve come into shut contact with individuals and canines, or they’re that one-in-a-million black bear that decides to attempt to eat an individual. These are all exceptions, although: Fortunately for us North People, a stunned black bear normally simply desires to run away or rise up a tree.
5. Solar Bear
For a really very long time, I believed solar bears have been usually innocent. They’re the smallest bear and largely feed on fruit, honey and bugs, all elements that you simply may suppose would hold them out of battle with people. However lately, I discovered a examine that confirmed 33 human casualties from solar bears in a ten-year interval in only one state of northeast India. It’s affordable to consider that many assaults from these bears go unreported all through their vary in tropical Southeast Asia. The extra I’ve discovered concerning the species and simply how defensive they are often, the extra they’ve climbed my private harmful bear rankings.
4. Polar Bear
Polar bears are the most important terrestrial predator on earth and the one obligate carnivore among the many bears. Opposite to in style perception, polar bears don’t actively hunt human beings as a rule. (In the event that they did, we might see much more human casualties from polar bears than we do, even within the sparsely populated Arctic.) However after they do determine to assault an individual, it’s nearly all the time motivated by predation, and they are often arduous bears to cease or discourage as soon as they’re centered on a goal. Some cities of their vary use each volunteer and paid “bear patrols” to chase them off with noisemakers and cracker shells. Their measurement and carnivory earn them the quantity 4 spot on the listing relating to total hazard.
3. Brown Bear
That is the bear we’ve got named “grizzly” in inland North America. However no matter you name them, Ursus arctos is discovered worldwide all through the Northern Hemisphere. Throughout their vary, they’re well-known for being grumpy and defensive: Hotspots for assaults embody Romania, japanese Russia and Hokkaido, Japan. In response to a paper that checked out worldwide assaults from brown bears, they’re accountable for mauling round 50 individuals per yr, and about 15% of these victims will die within the encounter. These bears are giant and extremely defensive, and the overwhelming majority of assaults on people come from shock shut encounters.
2. Asiatic Black Bear
Asia’s black bears are smaller than North America’s, however they’re additionally much more harmful: In 2025 alone, Asiatic black bears attacked greater than 230 individuals in Japan, killing 13. That’s only one yr, and solely in a single small part of their vary. It’s a frankly superb statistic and, though 2025 was the next than common yr, there’s no denying these bears are behaviorally very totally different from their American cousins. Nearly all of their assaults on people are regarded as defensive in nature, as they hardly ever feed on victims. Like the entire bears on this listing, we’ve got accomplished a lot worse to them than they may ever do to us, and a fast dive into the bear bile trade will provide you with a everlasting comfortable spot for this imperiled species.
1. Sloth Bear
It’s doable Asiatic black bears is perhaps accountable for extra accidents, however contemplating that sloth bears’ vary is restricted to the Indian Subcontinent, they assault a fairly baffling variety of individuals. Many researchers think about them probably the most harmful giant animal in India, and between Bengal tigers, leopards, and Asian elephants, there’s some stiff competitors for that title. Within the state of Madhya Pradesh alone, there are about 150 sloth bear assaults yearly, and about 6 % of these assaults are deadly.
What, precisely, makes sloth bears so harmful? So far as we are able to inform, over the course of their evolution, they’ve actually internalized the thought of “the most effective protection is an efficient offense.” In a paper I co-wrote, we seemed on the relationship of sloth bears with giant feline predators like tigers, and located that they usually repel these predators by preventing again with explosive costs and typically bodily assaults. It’s doable that they use the identical technique on people, and we simply occur to be lots softer and simpler to injure than tigers.
