PANDA BEARS
Panda bears are little black and white bears. They have black circles around their eyes and black ears. They are found in bamboo forests in the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu in Western China.
Pandas are an endangered species. Their main threat is their forest getting cut down and poaching. Poaching is killing an animal for a part of its body, like its fur. They almost always eat bamboo. They eat up to 33 pounds a day. Pandas have splinter protectors on their paws and in their throat. Panda litters range from one to three cubs, but usually only one survives.
BLACK BEARS
The black bear can weigh from 130 to 600 pounds, but these bears are generally medium size bears. American black bears are found in 32 states in America and some provinces in Mexico and Canada except not in Prince Edward Island and northern Mexico. Even though the black is a carnivore, it still eats berries, grass, acorns, and roots. A threat to black bears are people poaching them for the Asian Medical Market. The black bear can be found in many different color phases from black, chocolate brown, cinnamon brown, pale blue (known as the glacier bear) to white( known as the Kermode bear). Click here to learn about black bears in our state, Mississippi, from a bear biologist!
SUN BEARS
The sun bear is found in Asia, India, Burma, southern China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Sun bears prefer lowland tropical rainforests. They are believed to sleep in trees. They are quiet animals.
The cubs are born all through the year. The babies usually weigh around ten ounces. They have 1 to 2 cubs. The cubs stay with their mother until they are almost fully grown.
The sun bear is one of the smallest bears. Its body length is 48-60 inches. Females weigh 60 to 145 pounds. Males are slightly larger. The sun bear has a short, sleek, black fur and a golden crescent on their chest. That is why it is called the sun bear. They have short round ears. Their claws are long and pointed.
Sun bears are omnivorous which means they eat plants and meat. They eat birds, small mammals, termites, the young tips of palm trees, and the nest of wild bees. They have been known to cause crop damage.
POLAR
BEARS
Polar bears are the largest bear species. They weigh between 440 and 1,760 lbs. Their usual body length is 8'5". Polar bears are found in icy places such as Greenland, Norway, Canada, Alaska, and Russia.
Threats to polar bears are mainly oil spills and toxins in their food supply. They eat young walruses, bearded seals, and sometimes dead narwhal or beluga whales washed up on the shore. They get their food by killing it with their claws and teeth. Polar bear litters can be up to 4 cubs, but it is very rare for most of them to survive. 1 or 2 bear cubs are more common.
The polar bears play and hunt most of the day. The bears create their dens by snow, dirt, leaves, and grass and they hibernate by sleeping through winter. Its fur is pure white, long, and thick.
SPECKLED
BEARS
The speckled bear can be found in Venezuela, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. It lives in the forested Andes Mountain habitats, ranging in elevation from 500 to 14,000 feet. It is an excellent tree climber. Sadly, the speckled bear's habitat is being destroyed.
The speckled bear's favorite food is fruit. It will also eat a variety of bromeliads, rodents, and insects. It also is very important in the forest because some plants' seeds sprout from the bear's droppings.
It is called the speckled bear because of the two cream markings around its eyes. The speckled bear is being hunted for its fur even though it is illegal. Females reach the age of maturity between 4 and 7 years. The bears will mate in April, May, and June.
BROWN
BEARS
In North America, brown bears can be found in western Canada, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. In Europe, they live east of the Stanovoi Mountain Range in Russia and in small in France, Spain, Italy, and Greece. There are small populations in India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, Syrai, Iraq, and Turkey. Brown bears inhabit dense forests, tundra, and lower Alpine mountain regions.
Brown bears are omnivorous, eating fruits, bulbs and roots, insects, fish, and small animals. In a few areas, they are known to be predators of large animals such as caribou and moose. They will also scavenge when available including whale, walrus, and seals that have washed up on shore.
Brown bears weigh about 300 to 860 lbs.. They can be 9'6". They are usually dark in color but can vary from cream color to almost black.