82. Brown Bear, Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758

(IUCN Red List: VU)

Subspecies: U. a. syriacus (Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1828) .

Distribution: Very rare; its former range extends from the coastal mountains, Mount Hermon, and Mesopotamia. (Fig. 89)

Previous records: Jabal Abd Al-Aziz (Aharoni 1930), Mount Hermon and Latakia by the end of 1950’s (Talbot 1960): at the present-time extinct in these places. The latest bear tracks were observed southeast of Bloudan in 2004 (Hajjar 2011).

Recent records: Bear footprints on snow were photographed near Bloudan (2018); yet, further research is needed.