Top 10 Interesting Facts About Bears

Bears may be found all over the world, from North America to South America, Europe to Asia, and their wide distribution has resulted in a wide variety of sizes, behaviors, and food preferences.

The North American black bear, Asiatic black bear, brown bear, giant panda, polar bear, sloth bear, sun bear, and spectacled bear are the eight bear species. Unfortunately, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, all of those mentioned are vulnerable, owing mostly to habitat degradation and unlawful poaching.

Unfortunately, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, all of those mentioned are vulnerable, owing mostly to habitat degradation and unlawful poaching.

Here are the top 10 interesting facts about bears.

Pandas Have an Extra Bone Just for Eating

Panda eating

Pandas are well-known for their fondness for bamboo. Pandas will spend up to 12 hours a day feeding to receive enough nutrients, consuming up to 20 to 40 pounds of plant material every day.  They have a specific anatomical adaption that allows them to feed more easily on the stems and leaves.

Each front paw of a panda has an extended wrist bone with cushioning on the end. This works similarly to a thumb, giving you more control over bamboo stalks. It’s not a genuine thumb, and the panda can’t use it to grab items, but the adaption gives the panda better stability when eating bamboo. [Source: Treehugger]

Sloth Bears Use Their Lips Like a Vacuum

Sloth Bear

The sloth bear has particularly formed lips for its feeding habits, and the characteristic is so noticeable that the mammal is also known as the labiated bear.

In its native India, the sloth bear enjoys eating ants and termites in addition to fruits and flowers. It accomplishes so by wrapping its long lower lip over the outside edge of its nose, forming a suction hose out of the end of its snout. Because it lacks upper incisor teeth, it may readily suck up an insect diet.

It’s also known as a “labiated bear” because of its lengthy bottom lip and palate, which it uses to swallow up insects. It has long, shaggy fur, a mane around its face, and sickle-shaped claws. It is shorter than brown bears and Asian black bears. It has characteristics of insectivorous animals and diverged from the original brown bear during the Pleistocene.

Sloth bears breed in the spring and early summer and give birth in the early winter. When people intrude on their territories, they may fight them. Humans have historically limited these bears’ habitat and number by shooting them for food and items such as their bacula and claws. Sloth bears have been tamed and utilised as both performers and pets.

Brown Bears Are the Most Widespread

Brown Bears

The brown bear, which is native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, used to wander the whole world. In contemporary times, its distribution has fallen dramatically, with the species becoming locally extinct in several locations. Nonetheless, it is the most common of all bear species.

The brown bear may now be found throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. Russia, the United States, and Canada have the greatest populations.

‘Grolar’ and ‘Pizzly’ Bears Are Appearing

Grolar

Brown bears and polar bears are increasingly invading each other’s territories as the world climate changes. As a result, hybrid bears, often known as “grolar” or “pizzly” bears, are becoming more prevalent.

In 2006, a hunter killed what he thought was a polar bear but was a combination of a polar bear and a grizzly bear.

This was the first time hybridization between the two species had been seen in the wild. Interestingly, these bears are reproductive, implying that polar bears and grizzly bears can influence the gene pools of other species.

Black Bears Are Not Always Black

Black Bears

The bears in this shot are not brown, as you would have assumed. It’s a cinnamon-colored black bear sow with her blond cub.

Though the species is known as the black bear, the animals within it can be black, brown, cinnamon, blond, blue-gray, or even white.

The color variance is due to the bears’ surroundings. A lighter hue is more frequent among black bears in the western United States since lighter tints assist them to blend in and lessen heat stress while in open meadows. Around half of the black bears are brown. Meanwhile, in the northeast, around 97 percent of black bears are black.

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White Bears Have Cultural Significance

White Bears

The most well-known non-black black bears are members of the Kermode subspecies, which are found in British Columbia. Ten to twenty-five percent of these subspecies’ individuals have an all-white or cream-colored coat, which is unexpected given that they are officially black bears.

Aside from its captivating beauty, the white Kermode bear has cultural importance to the First Nations, giving it the moniker “spirit bear.” The Kitasoo/Xaixais Nation relates a narrative about Raven (creator of all things) creating the animal to remind him of snow and ice when the Ice Age came to an end. In another myth, Raven strikes an arrangement with black bears that some of their pups will be white throughout time.

Their scientific name, which means “maritime bear,” comes from this fact. Polar bears hunt seals from the edge of the sea ice, typically living off fat stores when there is no sea ice. Polar bears are categorised as marine animals due to their need on sea ice.

The polar bear is listed as a vulnerable species due to the predicted loss of habitat due to climate change. For decades, large-scale hunting prompted widespread anxiety about the species’ survival, but numbers recovered once regulations and quotas were implemented. Polar bears have been a crucial role in the material, spiritual, and cultural lives of circumpolar peoples for thousands of years, and they continue to be prominent in their civilizations. The polar bear has also been referred to as the “white bear” in the past. It is also known as the “nanook,” which is derived from the Inuit name nanuq.

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Panda Babies Are Shockingly Small

Baby Pandas

Panda cubs are famous for their cuteness, but there is something more special about them: They’re shockingly small. Panda babies are one of the tiniest newborn animals in comparison to their moms, measuring just 1/900th the size of their mothers. At birth, they weigh only 3.5 ounces, which is about the size of a stick of butter.

Panda cubs are defenseless due to their tiny stature. That is why panda mothers are so protective.

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Polar Bears Are Marine Mammals

Polar Bears

Polar bears are unique among bear species in that they rely on the ocean for food and a place to reside. As a result, they are the only bear species that are classified as marine mammals, and they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Polar bears have a lot of fine-tuned traits that allow them to thrive in their frigid habitat. They have partly webbed forepaws that allow them to swim at speeds of up to six miles per hour. Furthermore, their fat coating and thick coat offer buoyancy as well as protection from the chilly water, and their nostrils seal when submerged.

Only 1 Bear Species Lives in the Southern Hemisphere

Spectacled Bears

Except for the spectacled bear, all bears dwell in the Northern Hemisphere. This bear is nearly completely located in South America’s Andes Mountains, earning it the nickname “Andean bear.” It extends from western Venezuela to western Bolivia, and occasionally into northwest Argentina.

The cream-colored marks surrounding the bear’s eyes, which resemble the frames of spectacles, may continue down to the bear’s neck and breast. Not only is this the last living bear species in the Southern Hemisphere, but it is also the only remaining cousin of short-faced bears.

Sun Bears Are (Falsely) Thought To Have Medicinal Properties

Sun Bears

The sun bear is the smallest of the bear species, with a unique marking on its chest that resembles the rising sun and gives the bear its memorable name. However, that is not why these bears have been sought after. They are often hunted and killed for their paws, gallbladders, and bile products to be used in traditional Chinese medicine.

What’s more, sun bears are one of the species used in bear bile farms, a cruel practice in which bears are kept caged to extract bile for the medicinal trade.

In each of these cases, there is no scientific evidence that these substances hold any medicinal value.

The sun bear is the most arboreal (tree-living) of all bears, and it sunbathes or sleeps in trees 2 to 7 metres (7 to 23 feet) above the ground. It is mostly active during the day, while nocturnality may be more prevalent in human-populated places. Sun bears are mostly solitary, however they do appear in couples on occasion (such as a mother and her cub). They do not appear to hibernate, presumably because food supplies are accessible across the range all year. Sun bears are omnivores, eating ants, bees, beetles, honey, termites, and plant material such as seeds and various fruits; vertebrates such as birds and deer are also consumed on occasion. They reproduce all year; individuals reach sexual maturity between the ages of two and four. Litters include of one or two cubs who stay with their mother for around three years.

The sun bear’s range is bounded to the north by northeastern India and continues south to southeast across mainland Asia’s Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam to Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. These bears are threatened by deforestation and illicit shooting for food and the wildlife trade; they are also affected when they invade farmlands, plantations, and orchards. Over the last three decades, the world population is believed to have decreased by 35%. This species is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN.