This is largely a matter of local lexical confusion. In the US, "brown bear" can mean two things: a black bear with a brown coat (ursus americanus), or a grizzl

This is largely a matter of local lexical confusion. In the US, "brown bear" can mean two things: a black bear with a brown coat (ursus americanus), or a grizzly (ursus arctos horribilis, which makes me giggle every time). Across the pond, "brown bear" probably means ursus arctos arctos, a cousin of our own more foul-tempered beasties. But when a Californian says "brown bear", usually they just mean a brown-coated black bear (https://bear.org/black-bear-color-phases/ https://bear.org/black-bear-color-phases/).