BEARS: The 8 Wonders Of The World

These are snapshots of the 8 bear species and a rare subspecies of the world.

To do each species justice, I've created a lens for each with many more facts, photos, videos, resource links, books, and places to get even more information.

I hope this information is enough to whet your appetite and send you to the individual bear lenses. Enjoy!

American Black Bears are the most common bears in North America. They live in 41 of the U.S. States, throughout Canada (except Prince Edward Island) and Mexico.

IUCN lists them as

Least Concern

However, according to Defenders of Wildlife, "they are listed as a threatened subspecies in Louisiana, eastern Texas and southern Mississippi under the federal *Endangered Species Act. In 4 additional states black bears are state-listed as rare, threatened or endangered (Lousiana, Florida and within the historic range of black bears in southern Mississippi and eastern Texas). The Florida black bear subspecies is listed as threatened by the state of Florida."

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click American Black Bear

The Asiatic Black Bear is also known as the Tibetan black bear, the Himalayan black bear, or the moon bear.

The Asiatic Black Bear is distributed all the way from the east to west of the Asian continent. They are found in high elevations as well as in lower lands. Areas with forests of hilly and mountainous areas in: East Asia and South Asia, including South Korea, North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh northern India, Nepal, Sikkim (Indian state), Bhutan, Burma, southern Siberia in Russia, northeastern China, Taiwan and Japan

They are listed as

Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)

These bears are imprisoned by the Chinese and Koreans on bear farms and used to harvest bile. The bears are caged in tiny cages in a prone position as cubs for life with catheters inserted into them. The bile is then removed 2 times a day. When they are old (sometimes being in these cages for 20+ years) they are killed and their gall bladder and paws are removed. Bear farms are a barbaric and a horrible stain on mankind.

There are synthetic sources for bile which should stop this cruel treatment of these bears, however, the farms are still there. For more information on how you can help stop this cruel and inhumane practice, click Animals Asia.

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Asiatic Black Bear

The Brown Bear has subspecies called the Eurasian Brown Bear, Grizzly Bears, the Syrian Brown Bear, Kodiak bear, and Siberian Brown Bear.

Brown bears are distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. Mostly Russia, the United States, and Canada.

They have a total population of approximately 200,000.

Brown Bears are listed as Least Concernspecies

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Brown Bears

Photo: National Wildlife Federation

The Great Bear Rainforest, one of the last rainforest's on earth, is found in British Columbia, Canada. It is home to Brown Bears/Grizzlies and Black bears. Currently trophy hunters are allowed to kill these vulunerable bears.

Currently, the Vancouver Organizing Committee is planning for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, so now is a great time to let them know that you oppose the killing of these bears.

You can help by signing the petition at Stop the trophy hunting.

Let the organizers knows that you are considering avoiding the 2010 Olympic Games as long as the trophy hunt for bears is allowed to continue in the Great Bear Rainforest - and that you will encourage your friends and family to follow suit.

Giant Pandas
are found in several mountain ranges in China. Specifically, in the Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces.

They used to be found in the lowlands, however due to habitat destruction from farming and the clearing of forest of bamboo (their main source of food), they are now found only higher up.

They are listed by the IUCN as

Endangered

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Giant Pandas

Polar bears live only in the Northern Hemisphere. They inhabit the Arctic ice cap, islands, sea ice, and water and continental coastlines. Polar bears prefer the sea ice habitat. They like to be near the continental coastlines or islands.

Although Polar Bears are listed by the IUCN as

Vulnerable

the U.S. Department of the Interior on May 14, 2008 listed the polar bear as a Threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Polar Bears

Sloth Bears are found the lowland forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh. The primary threats to the survival of the Sloth Bear on the Indian subcontinent are poachers, who steal young cubs and kill their mothers in the process, then sell the cubs to be used as Dancing Bears and the loss of habitat are the. They are yet another bear that are hunted by humans for their gall bladder for eastern medicine.

Sloth bears are listed by the IUCN as

Vulnerable

Dancing Bears of India
In India many Sloth bears are taken from their mothers when they are just weeks old and have to witness their mothers brutally killed while trying to save their cubs.

These cubs are then sold on the black market where the buyers turn them into 'Dancing Bears'. To do that, their muzzles are pierced and threaded with a coarse rope. The bear lives out it's life at the end of the rope. It dances for tourists and is dragged from village to village. (If you didn't shudder or cringe at this, you have no heart.)

To save these bears from a lifetime of misery, Wildlife S.O.S. has a India Bear Rescue Project where they save these bears.

For much more information and photos about how this practice of Dancing Bears got started and what is being done to stop it, click Dancing Bears

For more facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Sloth Bear

For the inspiring true story of the Dancing Bear Rescue (told with photos and videos) and meet the Co-founder and Director aka BEAR MAN, click HERE.

Spectacled bears or Andean bears are only found in South America (see map) specifically in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

They are found in all of the different forests: rain forests, what are called cloud forests and dry forests as well as in coastal scrub desert -- anywhere the Bromeliaceae family of plants (their favorite food) are found, you find these bears.

Spectacled Bears are listed by the IUCN as

Vulnerable

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Spectacled Bears

Sun Bears, also known as Malayan Sun Bears or Honey Bears are the smallest bears in the world and are found primarily in the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia.

Sun Bears are listed by the IUCN as

Vulnerable

These bears are also hunted for their fur and bile for Eastern medicine. For more information on how you can help stop the cruel and inhumane practice of bear bile farming, click Animals Asia.

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Sun Bears

All royalties raised on this lens are donated to Wildlife S.O.S. (WSOS)for their "India Bear Rescue" Project to rescue Dancing Bears in India.

To learn about little cubs like this one (who has been rescued by WSOS) and other Dancing Bears, click Saving The Dancing Bears Of India

This bear is a rare subspecies of the Black Bear. Due to a rare genetic trait, these bears has white fur but they are not albino. There eyes and nose are both brown not white as an albino would be.

They are found mainly on Prince Royal Island, off the coast of British Columbia in Canada. They live in the rainforest on the island known as the Great Bear Rainforest.

For a complete compilation of facts, photos, books, videos and links to organizations helping these bears, click Kermode Bears

Member of Save Our Bears Headquarters -- a group of lenses devoted to help change the plight all of the 8 bear species through awareness and fund raising.

The lenses show the wonderful nature of bears and many will, at the same time, shine a spotlight on the dangers bears face including: trophy hunters, gall bladder and bile farming, pollution, bear baiting, global warming, and habitat destruction.

You'll also find fun lenses on great polar bear movies, books, teddy bears, even cartoon and toy bears.

Click Save Our Bears (SOB) to go to the Headquarters page.

This lens won the Favorite Giant Lens Contest for the week of 11/7/08. Click blog entry to see the write up. Check out all of the wonderful lenses on the Giant Squid Community Showcase and vote for your favorites. Thank you to everyone who liked this lens enough to vote for it. Bear hugs to all!

WANT TO LINK TO THIS PAGE?

Here's the HTML code to copy and paste:
<a href="http://www.squidoo.com/bears-species/" title="Click Here to visit BEARS: The 8 Wonders of the World">BEARS: The 8 Wonders of the World</a>

This work is covered by copyright and can not be reprinted
in any matter (physical or digital) without prior written consent.

Copyright 2008-2012 Frankie Kangas All rights reserved.