Try reading all the posts before answering.
You posted your retraction while I was posting. It happens. Get over it.
So, on the one hand, we have Earl Snake-Hips Tucker telling us about something that “was probably might have been”, and on the other, we have Floater telling us about vegetarian carnivores.
OK, I’m cool with that :).
I just about died laughing at lunch today.
I was reading through some Trivial Pursuit (Genus IV) cards, and found this question:
Trivial Pursuit is hardly flawless… but, FWIW, they vote for Kodiak.
Anyone remember that classic Trivial Pursuit question: “What animal is the most specialized?”
The answer: “The Whale” was highly mystifying. I can understand someone not understanding that “specialization” is something that you can’t quantify. But how did that person come to the conclusion that the whale was the most specialized animal, given that criteria for judging don’t exist? And how was a person supposed to figure out the answer, given that no criteria for judging are given?
Alright, I’m certainly willing to concede that my language was far less than precise. I’m even willing to concede that the polar bear may not have been the largest land carnivore to ever have existed, though I contend that the terms “largest” and “land carnivore” are themselves less than precise.
I’d completely forgotten about cave bears, anf for some reason my searches failed to turn up any lings with them mentioned, until IU specifically looked for them. They’ve got my vote for largest ever. I’ll stand with polar bears as the current largest, though.
Oh, about bears. I think the root of the problem is that “Kodiak Bear” doesn’t describe a species, it describes a population of a variable species. Some populations of Urusus arctos are very large, others are much smaller. Polar bears average larger than Ursus arctos. But the largest brown bears are larger than the largest polar bears.
The largest ever what? Cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) were primarily herbivores, so they don’t really pertain to this discussion. They weren’t even the “largest bears ever”, as that title is generally given to the Giant Short-faced Bear (Arctodus simus) - which is, incidentally, also sometimes noted as being the “largest mammalian carnivore ever”.
Wait, didn’t Floater tell us they were carnivores? Now I’m all confused. Screw it… Polar bears big. Ugh. Eat seal.
Maybe he meant they were carnivores in the sense that they were members of the order Carnivora?
I mean, pandas are also in that order, but they are vegetarian.
A related question: what was the largest four-footed land predator ever? It might have been one of the giant crocodilians, but I’m not sure whether they can truly count as land hunters.
Well, not to be persnickety here ( then again, if I was I’d be in excellent company !! 
), but bears as a whole tend to walk on all fours. Sure, the stuffed animals in the museums always show them up on rear paws. But that’s just for sparring, ballroom dancing and whaling the living hell out of tourists in Yosemite.
I consider them to be four-footed.
Cartooniverse
Sarcosuchus imperitor would be pretty tough to beat in that category.
Spot on.
Deinosuchus may have been around 15 meters long…
Well, I just checked Walker, which I regard as the most authoritative source on mammals . . . and guess what? It contradicts itself.
From the 1991 edition:
On Brown Bears Ursus arctos:
On the other hand, in the account on Polar Bears, they cite another reference (Mammalian Species) that says that males weigh up to 800 kg. :smack:
I haven’t been able to find anywhere information on the world record weights for either species. The Boone and Crockett Club lists records for North American big game animals in terms of skull dimensions rather than weight - and on that basis Kodiak marginally wins - but that is irrelevant to this discussion.
On the basis of the consensus of material I’ve looked at, I am willing to concede to Q.E.D. that:
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On average, as a species Polar Bears are larger than Brown Bears.
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On average, the “Kodiak” population of Brown Bears is pretty similar to Polar Bears. However, it’s possible Polars might have a slight edge.
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I don’t know which species might claim the title for world record individual in terms of weight.
Given that **Q.E.D. ** has conceded on “largest land carnivore ever,” perhaps we can take turns as “Swill-covered Leprous King for a Day.” 
I don’t know what swill is, but what the heck? Cover away.
This may be another one of those “polar bears vs Kodiaks” things
From this paper [.pdf document]:
From Encyclopædia Britannica:
quote:
(Ursus arctos middendorffi), variety of grizzly bear found on Kodiak Island, off the coast of Alaska. It is the largest of living land carnivores.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the Guiness Book of World Records (admittedly less authoritative than Brittanica) says the Polar Bear is.
Look, if Walker’s Mammals of the World, which is really the most authoritative scientific source on the subject, can’t keep its own story straight, I doubt we are going to nail this one down with dueling citations.
I’d like to find out the official maximum weight recorded for each species, but if the Boone and Crockett Club doesn’t have it, I don’t know who would.