How Long Have Bears Been on Earth?

For approximately 200,000 years.

Bears, in the taxonomic family of Ursidae, split off from other Carnivorans about 38 million years ago. Then the Ursinae subfamily originated around 4.2 million years ago. According to both fossil and DNA evidence, the polar bear split from the grouping of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 200,000 years ago. This is thought to have happened due to their isolation during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene period.