Sloth Bears - Learn About These Wonderful Bears

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Melursus
Species: M. ursinus

Binomial name: Melursus ursinus
(Shaw, 1791)

Subspecies:
Melursus ursinus inornatus Pucheran, 1855
Melursus ursinus ursinus (Shaw, 1791)

From Wikipedia

Sloth Bears are found the forests, scrub jungles and grasslands and mainly in the lower elevations of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. They like drier forest and ones with rocky outcrops.

Where these bears used to be found in forests all over India, they are now found in only a few habitats (see map).

The biggest threats to Sloth Bears are: the poaching of adults for body parts -- gall bladder, bile, claws and genital organs -- used in traditional Chinese medicine; poaching of cubs to train as Dancing Bears while killing the mother when she tries to defend her cub; habitat destruction and encroachment of habitat by humans.

Sloth bears a smaller than the Asiatic-Black-Bear (Himalayan or Moon Bear).

Features
Sloth bears have long shaggy fur. There is less fur on it's belly and the back of the legs. The fur color ranges from auburn to black and it has a light colored, elongated snout and a black nose. It's lips are bare (no hair) and like other black bears has a V-shaped creamy colored mark on its chest.

Their sickle-shaped claws are good for climbing and digging. They are 4 inches long, non-retractable and curl under. They also have the longest tail in the bear family, running 6 to 7 inches long, which is hidden in it's fur.

Size
The males are larger than the females weighing between 176 and 310 pounds. Females weigh between 120 and 209 pounds.

Diet
Sloth Bears eat ants and termites. They use their long, hard claws to dig in the mounds and their longs snouts to blow the dirt away and suck up their food.

They will also eat eggs, birds, flowers, tubers, fruits, grains and meat. Above all, they love honey and, like their cousin, the Sun Bear, they have been animal's fondness for honey has caused it to be nicknamed the Honey bear.

Range
Sloth Bears are not territorial being their only competitor for termites and ants (their favorite foods) are ant eaters.

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. They're training starts on hot coals with sticks hitting their feet to make them "dance". The bear lives out her life at the end of the rope. He dances for tourists and is dragged from village to village. (If you didn't cringe or shudder at this, you have no heart.)

There is hope and safety for these bears through Wildlife S.O.S. India Bear Rescue Project.

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

This cub has been RESCUED by Wildlife S.O.S.



All monies raised on this lens is donated to Wildlife S.O.S. for their "India Bear Rescue" Project to rescue Dancing Bears in India.

To learn about little cubs like this one and other Dancing Bears, click Saving The Dancing Bears Of India

Showcased at 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.

Get this adorable image of a Sloth Bear on t-shirts, hats and other apparel. To see all products with this design, click More Products

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