Bear

Type of Bear

Physical Features

Habitat

Behaviour

Asiatic Black Bear (Selenarctos thibetanus)

Moon bear is the alternate common name for this black-coloured animal with a white crescent on its chest. The hair on its neck is much longer than on the rest of its body. A male can weigh up to 350 pounds, or 159 kilogrammes, whereas females often weigh less than 200 pounds or 91 kilogrammes.

With less than 50,000 individuals worldwide, this bear can be found in Himalayan forests from Afghanistan to Japan, and south to Southeast Asia.

Although the Asiatic black bear is mostly nocturnal, it will occasionally venture out during the day to eat sun-warmed fruit. It's also an opportunistic predator, capable of breaking the necks of very large creatures. Asiatic black bears sleep through the winter in the north, while they are active all year in the southern half of their territory. The cubs are born 3 to 4 months after they mate in the autumn. Cubs are weaned at four months of age, which is substantially earlier than in other bear species.

Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)

Weighs about 93 – 410 kg which is 205 – 900 lbs and Brown bears can be white, cinnamon, or black in colour, although their fur is most usually brown. 

The colouration grizzled refers to brown bears with white points on the ends of their hairs.

The shape of its head is concave or scooped inward, and its shoulders are high due to a dense coating of muscle and fat that makes the back appear to slope downhill when viewed from the side.

They reside in the northern hemisphere's forest, tundra, and grassland, which includes both North America and Eurasia. The Eurasian brown bear (U. a. arctos ) is found throughout temperate and subarctic Eurasia; the grizzly bear (U. a. horribilis ) is found in Canada, Russia, and Alaska and the US. And the Kodiak bear (U. a. middendorffi ) of Kodiak Island is also found in two smaller islands in the Bering Sea off Alaska.

Grizzlies that live near rivers that go into the ocean feed as much as they can on migrating salmon. Bears that eat well can grow to be enormous. Despite their enormous size, they enjoy swimming and are skilled at catching fish, which they transport to land to peel the flesh from the bones. When there isn't any meat available, grizzlies eat roots, berries and sedge leaves.

Late in the spring, grizzly bears mate. The sow seeks a den in a cave or hollow tree in the autumn and retires for the winter. Usually, in February, two or three cubs are born. The cubs remain with their mother for at least two years, nursing for the majority of that period. The mother is fiercely protective of her pups, teaching them to climb trees to flee danger. Sow grizzlies guarding their young are the ones who attack humans the most.

North American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

Black bears have black fur, although it can also be brown, light tan, or even white. Within a litter of cubs, several hues may appear.

The ears of black bears are larger than those of other bears. The average adult weight ranges from 125 and 600 pounds (ranging from 57 and 272 kg) depending on the community. Males are approximately one-third heavier than females. Individual weight fluctuates dramatically throughout the year, depending on the amount of nutritional food available. When the areas of the two species overlap, black bears prefer to stay out of sight because they are much smaller than grizzlies.

It is mostly found in forested areas, but it can also be found in grassy meadows and tundra. It can be found across most of North America, from Alaska to Newfoundland, and all the way down to Mexico. Despite the fact that many areas of its range are depleted, it is still a widespread species.

Each black bear has its own domain in which it hunts for berries, nuts, honey, insect grubs, fish, rodents, and carrion. The domain of a male usually overlaps that of multiple sows. During the summer, black bears mate, with each female being visited by numerous males. It is not until autumn when the fertilised egg implants. The fertilised eggs, on the other hand, do not implant if the female bear is malnourished. After an 8–10 week gestation, one to four cubs are born in January.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

The polar bear appears white to blend in with the snow. They have a long neck and head than brown bears and are quite skinny. The individual hairs of their thick fur are translucent, and their coat appears white due to reflected sunlight. Their skin is strangely black. Any sunlight that passes through the animal's fur is absorbed by the black skin, which helps to keep it warm.

Polar bear populations can be found in five countries that includes the United States (Alaska), Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, and Russia. These countries are working together to maintain their polar bear populations, allowing only a limited amount of hunting. The majority of the bear hunting is done by aboriginal people, who eat the meat and sell the precious hides.

Their claws are longer than other bears', and they utilise them to catch their seal prey as it emerges from the water at a breathing hole or along the edge of an ice floe. Polar bears break into the frozen burrows where female seals had given birth to their young in the spring. When the ice on the mainland shore melts in the summer, polar bears may go onto the land to eat on berries or fast. 

They may also be drawn to waste dumps in towns, where they may come into contact with people, which can be dangerous. Polar bears are typically lonely creatures who only come together to breed in late spring (March-June).

In December or January, one to three cubs are born in a snow den built by the mother. At birth, the cubs weigh about 650 g, but when they emerge from the den in April, they weigh 9 kg or more. Because the sow's milk includes more than 30% fat, this rapid weight gain is conceivable. The cubs spend at least two years with their mother, learning to hunt and defend themselves. At that point, the mother will mate once again. At the age of five, young females are sexually mature. Polar bears can live for 20 years or more.

Panda Bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Giant pandas have a black and white coat which gives them a distinctive appearance from the rest, with black fur around their eyes, ears, mouth, legs, and shoulders. In their cold mountain homes, their thick, woolly cloak keeps them warm. A mature panda can weigh up to 150 kilogrammes, with males being 10% larger and 20% heavier than females.

Between 4,000 to 13,000 feet in height, giant pandas live in mixed broadleaf and coniferous forests. Most of the year, these temperate woodlands are either engulfed in mist or subjected to downpours. Pandas are mostly found in temperate forests high in the mountains of southwest China, where they eat bamboo almost exclusively. 

Depending on whatever portion of the bamboo they eat, they must consume anywhere from 26 to 84 pounds each day. They use their opposable thumbs, which are larger wrist bones. 

They avoid stressful situations and exertion as a result of their low-energy diet, preferring shallow slopes and solitary existence. To avoid each other, they employ scent identifiers. Giant pandas communicate by bleating like goats, or honking, growling, and barking, rather than roaring like other bears. Cubs scream and beg for attention. 

Panda families do not dwell in the same house. They are solitary, with each female having a distinct territory. Except during the short breeding season (March to May), when they fight for female attention, males normally live apart. The cubs are raised entirely by females.

Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

Spectacled bears have shaggy black, brown, or occasionally reddish fur. The whitish to yellowish rings around their eyes, resembling enormous eyeglasses, have earned them the name. However, these lines don't usually completely encircle the eyes, and some people don't have any markings at all. It can easily climb trees and sleep in them. Male spectacled bears can grow to be almost 6 ft (1.8 m) long with a head-to-body length of almost 6 ft (1.8 m) and a weight of 400 lb (182 kg). They have a shorter nose than other bears when viewed from the side. 

Spectacled bears bathe in mountain ponds and streams on a regular basis. Although spectacled bears can be found at elevations ranging from 250 to 4,700 metres above sea level and in a wide range of ecosystems, cloud forest (also known as an Andean forest) and high Andean moorland known as páramo are their favoured habitats. They live in a neotropical biogeographic zone. Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia are all part of their range states. 

There is no special season top mate for spectacled bears and the breeding season can happen at any time of the year. The female's gestation span is 5.5 to 8.5 months. They usually give birth to 1 to 3 cubs in an out-of-the-way, sheltered den between December and February. However, very nothing is known about how females select their den sites. For chewing tough plant parts like orchid bulbs and tree barks, these bears have unusually strong jaws and broad, flat molars (tooth).

Because they dwell in deep tropical woods with enormous trees, their larger forelimbs have given them the capacity to climb up trees with ease.

Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)

Long, shaggy fur, a mane around the face, and long, sickle-shaped claws characterise this creature. Brown and Asian black bears are lankier than this bear. Sloth bears are 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 2 metres) long, with a shoulder height of 2 to 3 feet (0.5 to 1 metre) and a weight of 200 to 300 pounds on average (90 to 140 kilograms). 

Sloth bears can be found in a range of dry and moist forests, as well as tall grasslands with boulders, scattered bushes, and trees for protection. India, Sri Lanka, and southern Nepal are all part of their range. 

It has a number of peculiar behavioural characteristics, including the fact that it carries its young on its back and that the male stays with the female to assist raise the cubs. Long, powerful claws are utilised by sloth bears to rip open termite nests while foraging. 

These bears adjust their sleep-wake cycle to their surroundings and depending on how many other bears, people, or predators share their habitat, they may be nocturnal, diurnal, or crepuscular. Sloth bears, for example, may be more active during the day in protected regions. Sloth bears do not hibernate and are active for roughly eight to fourteen hours each day.

They follow a crepuscular schedule at the Zoo, which means they are active in the morning and evening but sleep in the middle of the day and nights.

Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)

With huge paws, highly curled claws, small rounded ears, and a short snout, it has a stocky build. The fur is usually jet black, but it can also be grey or red. Sun bears are named because of their distinctive orange to cream coloured breast patch. The Malayan sun bear is the smallest, with males being around 4 ft (1.2 m) length from head to tail, 28 in (70 cm) tall at the shoulder, and weighing up to 440 lb (200 kg).

Tropical evergreen rainforests, montane forests, and swamp habitats can all be found in Southeast Asia's tropical forests. The Sun Bear used to be common in South East Asia's lowland forests. However, it has largely vanished from most of its historical ranges in recent decades. 

Sun bears, on the other hand, unlike any other bear, have hairless feet to help them climb trees. Bears' feet are equipped with powerful claws. Bears move in a plantigrade gait, which means they walk on their heels and soles. The majority of mammals walk on their toes. Bears can run at rates of up to 40 mph (64 km/h) for short distances, despite their lumpy and awkward appearance.