[citation needed] Known in the Opatas language as the pissini,[3] the grizzly was one of the heaviest and largest mammals in Mexico.

[4] Due to its silver fur, it was often named in Spanish as el oso plateado (the silvery bear).

[2] The bear inhabited the northern territories of Mexico, in particular the temperate grasslands and mountainous pine forests.

Their diet mainly consisted of plants, fruits and insects, and it is reported that it was very fond of ants, like most brown bears.

[10] The first Europeans to come in contact with the Mexican grizzly were the conquistadors in the 16th century, when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado went on an expedition to find the Seven Cities of Gold.

[6] After rumours of some surviving individuals on a ranch at the headwaters of the Yaqui River in the state of Sonora in 1968, American biologist Dr. Carl B. Koford went on a three-month survey but without success.