SUN BEAR
DESCRIPTION: A small forest bear with a South–East
Asian distribution, the Sun Bear is present at the western edge of its range only
in a few pockets in north– east India. It can be distinguished from the other
two Indian black bears by its small size, short black coat, a U-shaped mark on the
chest, more protruding lips and bowed legs. The ‘U’ mark can range from off-white
to cream to yellow to dark orange and, in many cases, is joined at the top,
forming a large circle of colour around a black centre. In some individuals, it
trails at the bottom end up to its forelegs. The muzzle is grey to cream and the
colour extends onto the face above the eyes, almost making it look like a
mask.With its small, stocky frame, it looks almost like a large dog and is
called Dog Bear in parts of its range. It has a very long tongue (25 cm) that
is used to lick out grubs from tree holes and honey from hives. It has long
claws that are horn-coloured to white.
BEHAVIOUR: The most arboreal bear, it makes
rough nests of bent branches in trees to sleep in. It uses its long claws for
digging and tearing up bark, and also thrusts its arms into termite mounds and
licks the insects off its paws.
DISTRIBUTION: Known from patchy sightings
and camera-trap photos in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and
Manipur.
HABITAT: Subtropical hardwood forests.
Size: 100–150 cm
IUCN Status: Data Deficient
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