Sloth Bear
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| Sloth Bear | ||||||||||||||
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 Sloth Bear in captivity at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, DC.
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| Melursus ursinus (Shaw, 1791) |
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Melursus ursinus inornatus Pucheran, 1855 |
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The Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) is a bear that inhabits the lowland forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The Sloth Bear is the only bear species classified in genus Melursus.[1]
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[edit] Description
The body is 150–190 cm long, covered in long, shaggy fur, ranging from auburn to black, with a distinctive "V"-shaped white mark on the chest, a whitish snout and black nose. The snout is long with bare lips and a lack of upper incisors, adaptations for its insect-based diet. The front feet are turned inwards and have non-retractable, curved ivory claws that are adapted for digging. The males, weighing 80–140 kg, are larger than the females, which weigh only 55–95 kg.[1] Its pugmarks are very similar to a human footprint. The tail is 15-18 cm (6-7 inches) long, the longest in the bear family.[2]
Female Sloth Bears typically give birth to two cubs after a seven month gestation, although singleton and triplet births are also known. The cubs remain in the den for two to three months, and continue to accompany the mother for at least a further two years.[3]
Because of their warm native habitat, Sloth Bears do not become dormant through the winter, as some more northerly species do.
[edit] Etymology
The Sloth Bear does not move as slowly as a sloth, and can easily outrun a human. One theory has it that early explorers saw these bears lying upside down in trees and gave them their common name for the similarity to the way a sloth hangs in trees. Another claims that the Sloth Bear gets its name because its normal walk is more of a meandering shuffle. The shaggy coat, light-coloured muzzle and long claws are common qualities of a sloth.
[edit] Diet
The Sloth Bear primarily eats ants and termites, breaking into termite mounds with large powerful claws and eating the occupants. It may also eat honey, eggs, birds, flowers, tubers, fruits, grains and meat.
The animal's fondness for honey has caused it to be nicknamed the Honey bear (a nickname also given to the sun bear); it has been known to scale the occasional tree to knock down a bee honeycomb, which it will then enjoy on the ground below.[4]
[edit] Habitat
It is found in a variety of habitats - from dry grassland to evergreen forests - but has a preference for tropical deciduous forests. Within that category, the Sloth Bear prefers dry deciduous forests and rocky outcrops to wet deciduous forests.
[edit] Conservation
Poaching and loss of this habitat and fragmentation of available habitat are the primary threats to the survival of the Sloth Bear on the Indian subcontinent. Predators such as Leopards, wolves, and Tigers may attempt to prey on the young, though the female Sloth Bear with young is exceptionally vicious regarding any threats to her young. Adults defend themselves quite well with their claws. Humans hunt the Sloth Bear primarily for its gall bladder, which is valued in eastern medicine. The Sloth Bear's current conservation status is Vulnerable.[5]
[edit] Attacks on humans
In India and Burma, sloth bears are more feared than tigers, due to their more unpredictable temperament, and are said to be the most aggressive and least predictable of Asian bears.[6] In Madhya Pradesh, sloth bear attacks accounted for the deaths of 48 people and the injuring of 686 others between the years 1989 and 1994.[7] One specimen, known as the Sloth bear of Mysore, was single handedly responsible for the deaths of 12 people and the mutilation of 2 dozen others before being shot by Kenneth Anderson.
[edit] In popular culture
- In the first episode of season 2 of wildboyz, Steve-O fought a Sloth Bear.
- Baloo, the "sleepy old grey bear" of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, is commonly identified as a Sloth Bear, as Baloo is native to the forests of India. In the Walt Disney Company's 1967 animated adapation of the book, Baloo's design somewhat resembles a grey-colored version of a grizzly bear, but has the distinctive longer claws of the Sloth Bear.
[edit] Further reading
- Wildlife Times: Daroji Bear Sanctuary - A trip report to a premier sloth bear territory(Melursus ursinus)
[edit] References
- ^ a b BearPlanet: Sloth Bear
- ^ Brown, Gary (1996). Great Bear Almanac, pp.340. ISBN 1558214747.
- ^ Bunnell, Fred (1984). in Macdonald, D.: The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File, 96. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
- ^ National Geographic: Sloth Bear
- ^ Bear Specialist Group (1996). Melursus ursinus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 8 May 2006. Listed as Vulnerable (VU A2cd, C1+2a v2.3)
- ^ Perry, Richard (1965). The World of the Tiger, pp.260. ASIN: B0007DU2IU.
- ^ Wolf Trust - Wolves Killing People - Perspective
[edit] External links
- Field Trip Earth - Field Trip Earth is a conservation education website operated by the North Carolina Zoological Society.
- Sloth Bear at Animal Diversity Web
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