Lowndes Co. High School

1

• BEARS

• By Roderick and Endrea
• Lowndes Co. High School
• Dr. James Corbett, Agriculture Teacher
• July 2005

2
Different Bears

• Spectacle bear
• American black bears
• Brown bear
• Sun Bear
• Polar Bear
• Asiatic Black Bear
• Sloth Bear

3
Spectacle Bear

• Adult males weigh 250-300 pounds and can grow to
  5-6 feet in length and stand 30" at shoulder.
  Females are smaller and weigh 150-200 pounds.
• RANGE Wooded, mountainous regions of Venezuela,
  Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Bolivia
  also reported in eastern Panama and northern
  Argentina.
• DIET Omnivorous, but eat little or no meat. At
  least 95 of their diet consists of fruits, palm
  stalks, new leaves, bamboo shoots, bromeliad
  bulbs, and cactus fruit. Occasionally eat
  rabbits, ants, mice, birds, llamas, and domestic
  cattle.
• Only bear in South America. Sole survivor of a
• subfamily of short-faced bears that once ranged
• across North and South American during the Ice
  Age.
• The spectacled bear is one of the best climbing
  bears,
• fully aquatic (loves to swim and fish), can slip
  
• through dense vegetation that is impassable to
  humans.

4
American Black Bear

• Medium-sized bear is usually black with a brown
  muzzle, lacks a shoulder hump, and often has a
  white patch on the chest.
• SIZE Adult male black bears range from about 130
  to 190 centimeters (50 to 75 inches) in length
  and weigh 60 to 300 kilograms (130 to 660
  pounds). Females measure from 130 to 190
  centimeters (50 to 75 inches) and weigh 40 to 80
  kilograms (90 to 175 pounds).
• DIET Black bears are omnivorous and feed on a
  wide range of foods, depending on what is
  available.

5
Brown Bear

• The brown bear (sometimes called a Grizzly in
  North America) is a large animal, usually dark
  brown in color, though it can vary from a light
  creamy shade through to black.
• Brown bears occupy a wide range of habitats
  including dense forests, subalpine mountain
  areas, and tundra.
• Brown bears mainly eat vegetation such as
  grasses, sedges, bulbs, and roots.

6
Sun Bear

• The sun bear has a short, sleek, black coat. The
  muzzle is short, and gray to faint orange in
  color
• This is the smallest of the bears. Adults are
  about 48 to 60 inches long and weigh 60 to 145
  pounds. Males are 10 to 20 percent larger than
  females.
• Sun bears live in lowland tropical rainforests.
  They are excellent climbers and are thought to
  sleep in trees.
• Sun bears are omnivorous. They have been reported
  to eat termites, small mammals, birds, and
  growing tips of palm

7
Polar Bear

• Polar bears are found throughout the circumpolar
  Arctic.
• Polar bears are the largest land carnivore.
• Male polar bears (boars) grow two to three times
  the size of female polar bears (sows). Boars
  weigh about 350 to more than 650 kg (772-1,433
  lb.) and are about 2.5 to 3 m (8.2-9.8 ft.) long
  (Stirling, 1988).
• The coat can vary from pure white to creamy
  yellow to light brown depending upon season and
  angle of light.
• A polar bear's skin is black.

8
Asiatic Black Bear

• This medium-sized, black-colored bear has a
  lightish muzzle and ears which appear large in
  proportion to the rest of its head, especially
  when compared with other species of bears.
• Adult males range from 100 to 200 kilograms (220
  to 440 pounds) and adult females from 50 to 125
  kilograms (110 to 275 pounds).
• Asiatic black bears have been reported to feed on
  a wide range of foods, including fruits, bees'
  nests, insects,
• Asiatic black bears are found over a wide area of
  southern Asia

9
Sloth Bear

• The sloth bear is small and usually black, with a
  long shaggy coat, especially over the shoulders.
  Brown and gray hairs may be mixed in with the
  dark coat, and cinnamon and reddish individuals
  have also been reported.
• Adults are 150 to 190 centimeters (60 to 75
  inches) long. Males weigh 80 to 140 kilograms
  (175 to 310 pounds), and females weigh 55 to 95
  kilograms (120 to 210 pounds).
• Most sloth bears are found in India and Sri
  Lanka, but they have also been reported from
  Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
• Sloth bears feed extensively on termites and have
  special adaptations for doing this The naked
  lips are capable of protruding, and the inner
  pair of upper incisors are missing, which forms a
  gap through which termites can be sucked.

10
Bears

• Bears live alone they never gather in groups
  except during the summer mating season when a
  pair may be together for a month.
• The solitary female gives birth to one to four
  cubs during the winter sleep period. Cubs grow
  rapidly but remain with their mother for one or
  two years.
• Bears often spend much of their winter sleeping,
  a state that some call hibernation. Other
  scientists maintain that bears do not truly
  hibernate because their body temperature does not
  drop greatly and some become active on mild days.
  
• Zoologists usually recognize eight species of
  bears with several subspecies or varieties. The
  main types are brown bears, American black bears,
  Asiatic black bears, panda bears, polar bears,
  sun bears, sloth bears, and spectacled bears.

• Genetic testing now indicates that pandas are
  indeed bears.
• They have small eyes and poor eyesight.
• Bears do have a keen sense of smell.
• Bears, like a human, walk putting their entire
  foot sole on the ground with each step, and their
  heel strikes down first. This walk is different
  that most other animals that walk and run on
  their toes.

11
Myths

• Bear Mythologies of Scandinavia In Scandinavia,
  there was a firm belief in the ability of some
  people to change into or assume the
  characteristics of bears. Our English word
  "berserk" comes from this legend. It was thought
  that if a warrior was to don a bear-skin shirt
  (called a bear-sark) which had been treated with
  oils and herbs, that the warrior would gain the
  strength, stamina, and power of the animal. These
  people would be driven into a frenzy in battle
  and were said to be capable of biting through the
  enemy's shields or walking through fire without
  injury. No matter how much of the legend is true,
  the thought of a group of Vikings made up as
  bears is sobering.

• Angry One (Cree) The Animal (Michikaman)
  Apple of the Forest (Finn)
• Big Feet (nA) Big Great Food (Cree)
  Big Hairy One (Blackfoot)
• Black Beast (nA) Black Food (Cree)
  Black Place (Koyukon) Bobtail (nA)
• Broadfoot (Estonian) Dark Thing
  (Koyukon)
• Divine One Who Rules the Mountains (Ainu)