The Tibetan Blue Bear (Ursus Arctos Pruinosus) was first classified as a subspecies by English Zoologist Edward Blythe in 1854. There were three bears in the region surrounding the Himalayas, two out of the three diverged from the brown bear family, the only one who did not was the blue bear, 650,000 years ago. Now later on the Tibetan blue bear verged away from the brown bear species. The Tibetan blue bears are common ancestors with the North American Grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) and the Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) and only diverged approximately 343,000 years ago. This happened because a pack of brown bears split in half, one heading towards the Tibetan Plateau which is how we got the bear we are discussing on this website. Now the tricky part with this animal is that it is so elusive and rare, that most scientists go a lifetime without seeing one, so it is very difficult to truly study them and gather honest facts about them. According to locals the Tibetan blue bear kills a lot of livestock, and tales of them breaking into people's homes to raid it. Also, people say that around 1500 people are killed a year from the Tibetan blue bear but is highly unlikely. The human race has extensive knowledge of just about any and everything, but somehow this bear has evaded us almost entirely. The biggest differences between North American Grizzlies and Tibetan Blue Bears are their fur colors, mating tendencies, size, and behaviors.