GIANT PANDA BEAR
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Few endangered animals are as well-known as the giant panda. It is almost entirely vegetarian, feeding on the shoots of bamboo plants, whereas all its relatives are carnivorous. It eats sitting down, gripping its food in its front paws with the help of special pads that work like thumbs. Giant pandas have become rare, partly through hunting, but mainly because their natural habitat, the bamboo forests of central China, is slowly being destroyed. Giant pandas survive well in captivity, but it is very difficult to encourage them to breed. Baby pandas are about 3 inches long when they are born. They feed on their mother's milk for at least nine months.

POLAR BEAR
(Thalarctos maritimus)

This well-known animal is the world's largest bear. Females can weigh over 650 pounds, but the males may be double this weight and more. During the summer, polar bears often eat berries and rodents. In the winter, they wander over the frozen sea, attacking seals as they surface to breathe. Polar bears are suberb swimmers that have been seen in open water hundreds of miles from land. Their dense fur keeps their skin dry, and their furry paws give them a nonslip grip on ice. The males are usually active year round, but the females hibernate in ice dens during the winter. They give birth to their cubs there and emerge with their youngsters in spring.

GRIZZLY BEAR
(Ursus horriblilis)

The fearsome and unpredictable grizzly is one of a group of brown bears that includes the Alaskan brown bear, also called the Kodiak, and the brown bears of Europe and Asia. It can stand more than 10 feet high on its hind legs and is strong enough to drag away a horse. Grizzly bears live mainly in forests. They are not good climbers, but over short distances they can run at high speed. They eat almost anything, including fruit, deer and fish and they can catch and kill other bears. In places with cold winters, grizzly bears hibernate in underground dens. In late winter, the females give birth to two to four cubs, which stay with their mother for at least a year.

ASIATIC BLACK BEAR
(Ursus thihetanus)

This animal resembles the American black bear, but it has a broader face and a V-shaped patch of white fur on its chest. A good climber, it clambers up trees to reach fruit and honey from the nests of wild bees. It also eats insects and other small animals, and sometimes attacks farm livestock. In some parts of Asia, black bears are at risk of dying out because their natural habitat is being destroyed by deforestation. Hunters, who can sell bears' body parts for use in traditional medicines, pose a further threat to this species.

AMERICAN BLACK BEAR
(Ursus amercanus)

The American black bear is much smaller than the grizzly bear and much more widespread. It is often found in national parks, where it raids campsites for food. It usually hunts at night, using its keen sense of smell. The American black bear hibernates during the winter, but like the brown bear, its winter sleep is light, and its body temperature drops only a few degrees. If disturbed, it can wake up quickly. These bears tend to steer clear of people, but can be dangerous if they are disturbed while protecting their cubs.

SUN BEAR
(Helarctos malayanus)

This is both the smallest bear and one of the most intelligent. Its fur is black and short. Sun bears live in tropical forests, feeding on fruit and a variety of animals. They spend much of their lives in trees, sleeping during the day in nests made of leafy branches.

SPECTACKLED BEAR
(Tremarctos ornaus)

This is the only bear that lives in South America. Apart from its white "spectacles", its fur is mostly black or brown. Though they weigh 225 pounds or more, spectacled bears are good climbers. They build platforms in trees from which they forage for fruit and young leaves to eat. Because they live in a warm climate, they do not need to hibernate.

SLOTH BEARS
(Ursus ursinus)

For a bear, this shaggy Asian animal has a very unusual diet. It feeds mainly on termites, which it sucks up like a vacuum cleaner. Closing its nostrils while it feeds ensures that it does not breathe in the termites and choke. This method of eating is very noisy, and a feeding sloth bear can be heard over 500 feet away. Sloth bears have powerful feet and long claws. They are not normally dangerous to people, but like all bears, they have bad eyesight and poor hearing, and may attack if they are caught by surprise.

**All Facts and Information contained in this website can be found in the following reference materials: The Kingfisher Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia and The Complete Book of Animals from The American Education Publishers

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