Eurasian Brown Bear

Eurasian brown bears are the same species as grizzlies (Ursus arctos) but demonstrate how identical strategies produce different outcomes in different competitive landscapes. In North America, grizzlies evolved alongside wolves and competed with other large predators. In Europe, brown bears faced human pressure millennia earlier and were pushed into mountain refugia by agricultural expansion. Same bear, different selection pressures, different behavioral profiles.

European brown bears are generally smaller, more secretive, and more nocturnal than their North American relatives—not because of genetic differences, but because bold, visible bears were systematically eliminated by humans over thousands of years. This demonstrates rapid behavioral adaptation without speciation. The keystone effects are also muted: with smaller populations in fragmented habitats, European brown bears don't transport salmon nutrients or create the ecosystem effects their American cousins do.

The business parallel is identical strategies producing different outcomes based on competitive history. The same business model in Silicon Valley versus Germany may produce vastly different results based on regulatory environment, competitor density, and cultural context. Eurasian brown bears show that strategy isn't destiny—the competitive environment shapes how strategies express. A grizzly-style approach in a European-style market produces European-style outcomes regardless of original capability.