Bears

American Black Bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. They typically live in largely forested areas but will leave forests in search of food and are sometimes attracted to human communities due to the immediate availability of food. Despite the name, some subspecies can be brown or even blond in coloration. Up to 85% of the American black bear's diet consists of vegetation, though they tend to dig less than brown bears, eating far fewer roots, bulbs, corms, and tubers than the latter species. Initially emerging from hibernation, they seek to feed on carrion from winter-killed animals and newborn ungulates. As spring temperatures warm, American black bears seek new shoots of many plant species, especially new grasses, wetland plants, and forbs.

Asian Black Bear

Asiatic black bear, also called Himalayan bear, Tibetan bear, or moon bear, member of the bear family (Ursidae) found in the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, and parts of eastern Asia, including Japan. The Asiatic black bear is omnivorous, eating insects, fruit, nuts, beehives, small mammals, and birds, as well as carrion. It will occasionally attack domestic animals. It has a glossy black (sometimes brownish) coat, with a whitish mark shaped like a crescent moon on the chest. Its long, coarse neck and shoulder hair forms a modified mane. The bear’s gallbladder and bile are highly valued for use in traditional Asian medicines, especially in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. In China, bile is “farmed” by extracting it from captive bears, but elsewhere in Asia wild bears are hunted for their gallbladders and other body parts.During the summer the Asiatic black bear lives mainly in forested hills and mountains at elevations up to 3,600 metres (11,800 feet). Becoming fat by fall, it spends the winter at elevations of 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) or less and may sleep for much of the time. An adult male weighs 100–200 kg (220–440 pounds), a female about half as much; its length averages about 130–190 cm (51–75 inches), in addition to a 7–10-cm (3–4-inch) tail. After weaning, the young remain with the mother for as long as three years.

Eurasian Brown Bear

Brown bears are listed as “of least concern” by the IUCN and listed in CITES Appendix II but are endangered in much of Europe with the small, isolated populations in southern Europe especially at risk. The bears reach sexual maturity between the ages of three and six years. Mating occurs between May and July. The bears go into winter dens usually in October, November or early December and emerge in March, April or May. Cubs are born in the den in January and February, litters usually being of two or three cubs but can be of one or four. They will remain with the mother for two to three years during which time she will not become pregnant again. Except for mating and for mothers with cubs, brown bears are solitary.The bears are omnivorous and feed on fruits, seeds, roots, insects, fish, mammals and carrion.

Giant Panda Bear

The giant panda has an insatiable appetite for bamboo. A typical animal eats half the day—a full 12 out of every 24 hours—and relieves itself dozens of times a day. It takes 28 pounds of bamboo to satisfy a giant panda's daily dietary needs, and it hungrily plucks the stalks with elongated wrist bones that function rather like thumbs. Pandas will sometimes eat birds or rodents as well. Wild pandas live only in remote, mountainous regions in central China. These high bamboo forests are cool and wet—just as pandas like it. They may climb as high as 13,000 feet to feed on higher slopes in the summer season. Pandas are often seen eating in a relaxed sitting posture, with their hind legs stretched out before them. They may appear sedentary, but they are skilled tree-climbers and efficient swimmers.

Grizzly Bear

Grizzlies are massive animals with humped shoulders and an elevated forehead that contributes to a somewhat concave profile. The fur is brownish to buff, and the hairs are usually silver- or pale-tipped to give the grizzled effect for which they are named. Large adult grizzlies may be about 2.5 metres (8 feet) long and weigh about 410 kg (900 pounds). The Kodiak bear is the largest living land carnivore and may attain a length of more than 3 metres and a weight of 780 kg. It lives only on Kodiak Island and neighbouring islands. Because of their bulk and long straight claws, these bears rarely climb, even as cubs. Other grizzlies, however, are surprisingly agile and can run as fast as 48 km per hour (30 mph). Their eyesight is poor, and they have been known to attack humans without evident provocation. Females with cubs are the most aggressive.Omnivorous animals, grizzlies feed on berries, plant roots and shoots, small mammals, fish, calves of many hoofed animals, and carrion. Food is often cached in shallow holes, and grizzlies dig readily and vigorously in search of rodents. Each spring the bear marks the boundary of its territory by rubbing trees, scratching bark, or even biting large pieces from the trunks of trees. During late summer and autumn, grizzlies accumulate large amounts of fat and then retire to dens in winter. Cubs, most often twins, are usually born in January or February after about 6–8 months of gestation.Grizzlies once ranged through forested and open regions of western North America from Alaska to Mexico. Formerly living across the Great Plains, the grizzly bear has been the subject of many Native American legends and was one of the mammals reported by Lewis and Clark in their journey through eastern Montana in 1804.

Kodiak Bear

Kodiak bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi) live on Kodiak Island or one of the nearby islands off the coast of southwestern Alaska. These bears can be nearly as large as polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and include the largest brown bears (Ursus arctos) on record. Sixteen of the twenty largest brown bears killed by hunters have come from the Kodiak Archipelago.A large male can stand over 10 feet tall on his hind legs and 5 feet on all fours. A weight of 1,648 pounds was listed for one male in the Journal of Mammalogy. Females are about 20 percent smaller and 30 percent lighter than males. Brown bears, which include Kodiak bears, live in Europe, Asia, and North America. The 3 subspecies of brown bear that live in North America are Kodiak bears, coastal brown bears (Ursus arctos gyas), and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis).

Polar Bear

Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region's coastal waters. They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land—though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice.Polar bears live in one of the planet's coldest environments and depend on a thick coat of insulated fur, which covers a warming layer of fat. Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws, which protects against cold surfaces and provides a good grip on ice. The bear's stark white coat provides camouflage in surrounding snow and ice. But under their fur, polar bears have black skin—the better to soak in the sun's warming rays. Females den by digging into deep snow drifts, which provide protection and insulation from the Arctic elements. They give birth in winter, usually to twins. Young cubs live with their mothers for some 28 months to learn the survival skills of the far north. Females aggressively protect their young, but receive no help from their solitary male mates. In fact, male polar bears may even kill young of their species. Polar bears are attractive and appealing, but they are powerful predators that do not typically fear humans, which can make them dangerous. Near human settlements, they often acquire a taste for garbage, bringing bears and humans into perilous proximity.

Sloth Bear

Sloth bears are solitary creatures and generally nocturnal. They grow up to 6 feet in length, and males can weigh up to 310 pounds, while females weigh up to 210 pounds. When threatened they respond by standing on their hind legs and displaying their formidable foreclaws. They wear an extremely shaggy black coat and a cream-colored snout, and their chest is usually marked with a whitish “V” or “Y” design. After a six- to seven-month gestation period sloth bears normally give birth to a litter of two cubs in an underground den. The cubs will often ride on their mother’s back, a unique trait among bears. Sloth bears feed predominantly on termites and ants and employ a well-evolved method to dig them out. Their long, curved claws are used for penetrating nest mounds, which can be rock-hard. Once they’ve opened a hole, they blow away excess dirt then noisily suck out the insects through a gap in their front teeth. To do so, they close their nostrils and use their lips like a vacuum nozzle. Beyond insects, sloth bears feast on a variety of fruit and flowers, including mango, fig, and ebony. They are also known to scale the occasional tree to knock down a bee honeycomb, which they will then enjoy on the ground below.

Spectacled Bear

Spectacled bears wear shaggy fur that is black, brown, or sometimes reddish. They are so named for the whitish to yellowish rings that encircle their eyes, resembling large eyeglasses. These lines, however, don't always fully encircle the eyes, and some individuals lack the markings altogether. Spectacled bears, also called Andean bears, are among the smallest members of the family Ursidae. Males, which are significantly larger than females, grow over 5 feet in length and weigh up to 340 pounds. Females rarely weigh more than 180 pounds.Intensely shy bears, they prefer the lush, isolated cloud forests on the slopes of the Andes, climbing as high as 14,000 feet. They will descend to search for food though, and have been seen in widely differing habitats, from rain forests, to steppe lands, to coastal deserts.Spectacled bears are generally nocturnal and are primarily vegetarian, harvesting fruit, berries, cacti, and honey. Highly agile climbers, they have been known to sit in a tree for days on a platform made of broken branches, waiting for fruit to ripen. They have extremely strong jaws and wide, flat molars to chew tough vegetation such as tree bark and orchid bulbs.

Sun Bear

Found from southern China to eastern India and as far south as Indonesia, sun bears, also called Malayan sun bears, take their name from the bib-shaped golden or white patch on their chest, which legend says represents the rising sun. They have a stocky, muscular build, small ears, and a short muzzle, which has earned them the nickname “dog bear.” Their sleek, black coat is short to avoid overheating in the tropical weather but thick and coarse to provide protection from twigs, branches, and rain. Sun bears grow to only about half the size of an American black bear. Males, slightly larger than females, are about 5 feet in length and weigh up to 150 pounds, a stature which suits their arboreal lifestyle and allows them to move easily through the trees. They have even been observed making sleeping platforms high above the ground out of branches and leaves. Ironically, sun bears are nocturnal. They lumber through the forests by night, snacking on fruits, berries, roots, insects, small birds, lizards, and rodents. They have an excellent sense of smell and extremely long claws, exceeding four inches in length, which they use to rip open trees and termite nests. They also have an almost comically long tongue for extracting honey from bee nests, giving them their other nickname, “honey bear.”

Syrian Brown Bear

The smallest subspecies of the brown bear, about two to two and a half metres in length and weighing up to around 250 kg. The pelage is greyish-brown, generally of a pale shade. Fur near the shoulders is usually longer and may be darker with sometimes a dark stripe down the back and sometimes a dark brown patch on the top of the head. Often the legs are darker than the rest of the body. The only bear in the world known to have white claws. They could be found in the forests, grasslands and meadows of the mountain regions of its range. The Syrian bear eats fruit, berries, seeds, plants, grasses, nuts, grubs, and small mammals. Will also enter agricultural land in former habitat andconsume cultivated grains and domesticated livestock

Ussuri Brown Bear

Similar to the Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus) but generally darker in colour with a more elongated skull and less elevated forehead. Males can be up to twice the size of females ranging in weight from around 200 to 600 kg. Overall Ursus arctos is classified as of least concern by the IUCN but most if not all of the Ussuri subspecies seem vulnerable and in decline. Only a few bears remain in North Korea where they are listed as a National Monument and protected. About 500 to 1,500 are present in Heilongjiang and are classed as a vulnerable species. On Hokkaido the small western Ishikari subpopulation is listed as an endangered species in Japan’s Red Data Book.In 2015 the Hokkaido local government estimated the total population on the island at 10,600 bears.The diet of these omnivorous bears varies according to the local availability of foodstuffs and includes nuts, pinenuts, berries, acorns, pine bark and sap, grasses and their rhizomes, lilly and other roots and bulbs. Meat includes fish, small and sometimes large mammals, birds, larvae, ants and other insects. Although encounters are rare, Ussuri brown bears will attack Asiatic black bears but fatalities have not been recorded. Undoubtedly black bears will be eaten as carrion if found. Ussuri brown bears will feed on Amur (Siberian) tiger kills and are themselves a prey animal of the tigers.The bears den in the winter, mainly in excavated burrows or within rock outcrops but also in nests built on the ground. They are solitary except during mating and when with cubs. Cubs are born in the winter den and will remain with the mother for two to three years during which time she will not become pregnant again. Females are sexually mature at around three years of age.