Kodiak Bear

Kodiak bears represent grizzly strategy pushed to its extreme: the largest brown bears on Earth, reaching 1,500 pounds, evolved on isolated islands with extraordinarily rich salmon runs and no competing large predators. Kodiak Island became a natural experiment in what happens when the keystone bear strategy faces no constraints on size.

The result is instructive: Kodiaks achieved maximum size but not maximum fitness. Their population is small (roughly 3,500), entirely dependent on salmon, and geographically restricted. Remove Kodiak Island's salmon runs and the subspecies disappears. Mainland grizzlies, smaller but more flexible, occupy vastly more territory and total larger populations. The extreme specialist achieved individual maximum while sacrificing population resilience.

The business parallel is the trade-off between individual scale and population robustness. Kodiak bears are like companies that achieve maximum size in favorable niches—regional monopolies, dominant local players, specialized market leaders. They can grow enormous where conditions are perfect but can't expand beyond their ideal habitat. Mainland grizzlies are like diversified competitors that accept smaller individual size in exchange for broader geographic presence. The Kodiak model produces impressive individuals; the mainland model produces more total success across conditions.