The taxonomic status of our animals is being supernaturally changed as I type this.
It’s official enough that Encyclopedia Britannica lists them as “Koala, also called Koala Bear” and autosuggests “Koala Bear” when you type in koala in the search.
Here – have a few ursid cladograms:
As long as we’re on the subject, can somebody clear up the difference between brown bears and grizzly bears for me? I don’t understand if they are just two different names for the same thing, two distinct species, two distinct sets of species, or if one is a subset of the other.
Wikipedia isn’t helping:
The grizzly bear, also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly , is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly, other morphological forms of brown bear in North America are sometimes identified as grizzly bears.
In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears.
I grew up in an area where we had black bears and we avoided all this confusion.
They don’t look like a bear, they look like Theodore Roosevelt.
That brings up water bears.
I’m still struggling with the fact that Tasmanian Devils are a real animal.
To the best of my knowledge, tuna is a type of chicken (of the sea).
Looks as clear as any other common name applied by non-zoology-major immigrants across a whole continent to me. Americans started calling their big scary bears grizzlies. Early American biologists split them up into a bunch of species. DNA shows they are all subspecies of Brown bear (Ursus arctos). A lot of them are one particular subspecies (U.a. horribilis), but some of them are not, like the Kodiak, which already has its own name.
At least it’s not such a big f-up as “Elk”.
There is just one species, but less well established categories of sub-species and populations are identified. Geographic isolation has given some brown bears distinct features, mainly size, but they can all breed with each other and produce offspring identifiable as brown bears. I don’t think there’s any way to positively tell the difference genetically between a large brown bear from the lower 48 and a small Kodiak bear from Alaska.
Polar bears are so closely related that at least one brown bear/polar bear hybrid has been identified and there were past suspected cases.
Even more confusing is that black bears come in a dozen different colors - including brown.
Many of you have brought some good points. Honestly, the Sheldon Cooper part is really what was on my mind and then it led me to my question. No offense meant to anyone 
On a separate note, someone on this board once remarked that koalas are dicks. Made me laugh my ass off. And then a boyfriend who grew up in Aus called them bastards!
So grizzly bears are just a type of brown bear? And there are other brown bears that are not grizzly bears?
Is there something objective that defines which brown bears are grizzly bears and which aren’t? Or is it a case that any brown bear that gets big enough might be called a grizzly?
Yes. Based on several features such as size, plus the shape of the ears and nose, Yogi Bear is believed to be a black bear, many of which have brown coats similar to brown bears.
Are there chunks of backpacker in their teeth?
Here is one answer that points out the difference between an ordinary brown bear and a grizzly is not a hard line. Text below since it doesn’t seem to jump to that spot:
"2. What is the difference between brown bears and grizzly bears?
All grizzly bears are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzly bears. The bears you are watching on the cams are brown bears. Grizzly bears and brown bears are the same species ( Ursus arctos ), but grizzly bears are currently considered to be a separate subspecies ( U. a. horribilis ). Due to a few morphological differences, Kodiak bears are also considered to be a distinct subspecies of brown bear ( U. a. middendorfii ), but are very similar to Katmai’s brown bears in diet and habits.
Even though grizzlies are considered to be a subspecies of brown bear, the difference between a grizzly bear and a brown bear is fairly arbitrary. In North America, brown bears are generally considered to be those of the species that have access to coastal food resources like salmon. Grizzly bears live further inland and typically do not have access to marine-derived food resources.
Besides habitat and diet, there are physical and (arguably) temperamental differences between brown and grizzly bears. Large male brown bears in Katmai can routinely weigh over 1000 pounds (454 kg) in the fall. In contrast, grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park weigh far less on average. There have been no documented cases of grizzly bears weighing over 900 pounds (408 kg) in Yellowstone. Additionally, grizzly bears seem to react to humans at greater distances than brown bears."
Kodiaks at least live on an island and easy to categorize as a sub-species based on geography, but not based on genetics as of yet I believe.
Years ago, but in this century I was surprised to see no better definition of ‘species’ than I was taught in the 5th grade. A lot of renaming and reorganization since then, but a lot of that is done on the even fuzzier definition of sub-species. But I suppose genetic definitions are replacing the traditional nomenclature now and that naming can catch up some day.
Panda bears were originally called for odd reasons ‘particolor bears’ and were considered members of the bear family.
Later, zoologists noted certain physiological similarites with a critter known as the ‘panda,’ and differences with other members of the bear family that led them to believe that they were wrong, and that particolor bears were actually more closely related to the panda. This led to some renaming. The particolor bear became the ‘giant panda,’ and the plain ole panda became the ‘lesser panda’ or ‘red panda.’
Then, 100 years or so later, DNA showed them that they were right the first time. Giant pandas are actually bears, just different bears.
I suspect it’s just Sheldon using the colloquial term. I could see the writers having Sheldon do that, but it’s more likely he’d say Phascolarctos cinereus.
But in the English language in general, they’re sometimes “koala bears” in much the same way that “horned toads” are actually lizards, guinea pigs aren’t pigs, and none of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are actually berries.
https://geographical.co.uk/images/articles/nature/wildlife/2016/european_polecats/polecat3.jpg
Not actual cats.
Strawberries, blackberries and raspberries have likely been berries much longer than they have not, though.
My two favorite bears.
