The Bear on the California Flag

There's a pervasive story that the bear on California's state flag is modeled on a real California grizzly that was kept in captivity in San Francisco in the late 1800s. But when Bay Curious listener Mark Karn started researching Monarch, the facts weren't lining up for him. He wants to know, is it really Monarch on the state flag? Or, could it be a different bear altogether? Additional Resources: Who Is the Bear on the California Flag? A Story Bigger Than One Legend Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to This story was reported by Katherine Monahan. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Gabriela Glueck, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to The Bear on the California Flag online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Bear on the California Flag is an episode from Bay Curious by KQED.

This episode is 24:43 long.

This episode was published on Mar 19, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Bay Curious when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.