Category: bear family

Asiatic black Bear (moon bear)

Asiatic Black bear

The Asian black bear or moon bear 

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these.

 

Also known as the white chested bear and the moon bear, the asiatic black bear is found in the Himalayas, southeastern Iran, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China, the Russian Far East, the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan, and Taiwan. It is thought that around 50,000 remain in the wild.

 

This species does not do anywhere as well as the American black bear, but it should be able to bounce back if poaching for various substances were to end. Should you work in conservation or tourism about this species, we are eager to work with you. If you work in conservation, do join us as a member as we would love to be able to publish any interesting updates that you might want to publish.

 

We are keen to list any people who work in ecotourism in areas where this bear lives,  do get in touch , we would like to help people find you and make the bears worth having living nearby.

 

Spectacled Bear

spectacled bear

Spectacled Bear

The only bear of South America, as the last of the short-faced bears is closest relative is a bear now-extinct that once lived in Florida. Another aboreal species, a spectacled bear is a great climber, and their range covers basically the entire andean mountain range. It is not thought that more than 2000 bears remain. While not accurately depicted in pictures, this is also the species of bear that Paddington Bear was. Rare to see and hard to find, there is nevertheless an increasing market place forming around tourism. No more than 2000 remain.

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these links

Sun Bear

Sun Bear

Sun bears are found in the tropical forests of southeast Asia. The range of the sun bear is bound by northeastern India to the north and goes as south and southeast through Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in mainland Asia to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia to the south. It is the smallest of the bear species, and spends much if it’s time climbing around in trees. Giving this huge range it might alarm you to hear that only 1000 to 2000 of these bears remain.

 

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these links

Panda Bear

Panda Bear

Panda bears are unique amongst the bears, having become a vegetarian species. This means they are of great interest. They also survive only in China, despite the fact that it is the most populace country in the world.

A huge reserve is being created, which should connect most panda populations.

The only bear which has adapted a totally vegetarian diet, Panda bears are well known partly as a result in their face being the mark of the charity WWF, though it’s also likely that China’s panda diplomacy has had something to do with this. Eating almost exclusively bamboo they have a very restricted range in the mountains. Through much effort the current population is 2060 strong. While very expensive and needing high level of fitness, treks to see the Panda can be arranged.

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these links

There are 2 subspecies, with the split thought to have occurred around 300,000 years ago.

The standard panda is the one that we all know well. This is the black and white stereotypical panda that we are all familiar with.

These pandas are generally found within Sichuan province in China.

The population of both subspecies of panda is nearly 1900, which means that the population of this subspecies must number between 1600 and 1700. However, as always, we are operating on subspecies so its hard to be sure.

Below, I have included 2 videos of the more common  giant panda.

  • The first is an incredibly rare encounter with a panda bear on one of the roads that crosses their habitat – what a treat for the driver.
  • The second is a mother panda teaching her young how to eat bamboo.
  • The last video shows the training that humans give to pandas. to get them ready for a life in the wild (this is incredibly hard and time-consuming process. While it may be possible to reintroduce captive breed animals , or even a whole population from scratch, it will be far easier if we are able to maintain a minimum wild population instead.

The Qinling panda, is restricted to the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi at elevations of 1,300–3,000m. These pandas have a brown and white pattern (though largely in the same arrangement.

The population is thought to number 200-300 though numbers are not certain.

Below, I have included 2 videos of the Quinling panda. 

  • The first is a rare piece of footage of a quinling bear on the edge of a local city.
  • The second is footage of possibly the only Quinling bear that is currently found in captivity.
  •  The last video is a more in depth video about this subspecies which has recently be discovered.

American black Bear

Thought to have a population as high as 600000, the American black bear is far and away the most numerous of the world. As omnivores they are highly effective hunters, however the number of current black bears may be higher than it should naturally be. This is because humans killed most of the wolves and grizzly bears in the USA. As a result black bears who are lower on the food chain have been filling in an ecological niche at the top. In areas where wolves or grizzly bears returned the black bears suddenly become far less problematic.

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear at the bottom of the page, below the video, and out list of all articles which mention this species. Should you run some sort of black bear watching tourism of any kind, do add your details, and your destination will appear at the bottom of the page.

brown Bear

Brown bear

With it’s range originally encompassing the whole of Europe, much of Asia, most of North America and the atlas mountains of Africa (the only native African bear), it has unfortunately been in decline for some time. These days the bear habitat consists of Alaska and parts of Canada as well as northern regions of the USA, relict populations in Western Europe though they still have a stronghold in Eastern Europe and and Russia as well as sections of central Asia. Highly intelligent they have never lived at high densities, as members high on the the food chain, few places can support large populations for long. With their impressive intelligence, and inquisitive nature, the can be tough to live alongside. With all that in mind brown bear watching can be an enjoyable pastime in many different places. Around much of the world there are newer hides in places that bears still exist – these allow you to watch bears in their natural habitat. We currently only have one listed (it’s will with a visit, link below) but we are always keen to list many more.

There are many places where bears live happily live alongside humans and are rarely seen.

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home. Below this, is a list of any articles that have been written on this species, below that will be links that we have to see bears yourself.

Polar Bear

Polar bear

  • A relatively new species of bear, the polar bear is the only species adapted for polar life. Still being found all around the Arctic, there are roughly 26,000 in the wild at the current time. Whalers and for traders killed many in the 19th century, and while they have recovered experts predict that global warming is likely to lead to the extinction of the polar bear.

Polar bears are distant cousins of the Grizzly bear, and as the weather warms, polar bears are moving south and Grizzlies north. This has on at least one occasion created a so called “Pizzly”. We only know about this, because a hunter who paid to kill a polar bear accidentally shot the Pizzly. I have made it clear my lack of appreciation for the so called hunter – while I am ready to admit that in places the money is useful for conservation, I hope that with your help and this website, we might make it an irrelevance.

Found throughout the arctic, they can be seen in 

  • Alaska (USA) 4000-7000
  • Canada   16,000
  • Greenland 3500-4000
  • Norwegian islands, particularly Svalbard about 3000
  • Russia:22,000-31,000 (note, this adds up to far to many – indeed Russias population alone is above the world population, also some are shared between countries)

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these links

Sloth Bear

Sloth bear

The sloth bear is restricted to India, with about 20000 remaining. Unfortunately their population is falling, as a result of habitat loss.

 

 These bears live alongside tigers and many other species though they are not particularly easy to find.

Over time we hope to list many places where you can visit bears and see them in their wild home, these will appear here, and a list of posts we have published on bears will appear below these links

Bear Family tree

Bear family tree

The world has 8 species of bear. Although an incredibly successful family in their own right, humans have not been good for the various species which make up this family.

Click on a picture to be taken to its page

Sun bear Genus Ursinae
Sloth bear Genus Ursinae
Asiatic black bear or moon bear Genus Ursinae
Spectacled bear Genus Ursinae subfamily Ailuropodinae
Polar bear Genus Ursinae
Brown bear Genus Ursinae
American black bear Genus Ursinae
Panda bear

Below is a family tree showing current understood relation between the bear species

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