Hey buddy! We are Sloth Bears, with massive body and black fur. We look dangerous, right? But we are not as dangerous as Tigers and Lions.
You might wonder why we are called sloth bears? That is because we walk very slow, and most of the times you see us hang upside down on a tree. Is not it interesting? And have you seen Movie ‘Jungle book’? The character named ‘Bhalu’ in that movie is a sloth like us.
Let us tell you some of the things that we are known for.
- As we have told you just now, we walk very slow and walk with flapping motion.
- Unlike many other of my fellow bear species, the females of our species carry our young on their backs. The other bears place their young on trees to protect them from predators.
- We have unique hunting skills, we make a hole in the ground, and using our long snout, we suck out the termites living in the ground.
- We also make “Bear’s bread”. It is a dark yellow, a bread-like substance that we make by regurgitating a mixture of wood apples, pieces of honeycomb, and half-digested jackfruit. Many of you (humans) eat this as a delicacy.
- Yes, we are slow walkers. But we are not lazy and hibernate like other bears.
- As we have told you in the beginning, the character “Bhalu” in the movie “The Jungle Book” is a Sloth like us.
- We were very famous in historic India. Many of us were tamed by humans and we used to perform for entertainment. We were called The Dancing Bears. Doing this is now banned as our numbers are very low.
- In certain conditions, we have to behave dangerously and show our strength against some predators. We can fight any big predator in defense. We don’t know why but Asian Elephants and Indian Rhinoceros hate us, and they don’t let us stay with them.
- We are night lovers, we mean, we are partly nocturnal, we feed and be active mostly in the night and less in the day. We are most nocturnal than any other bear species.
- Oh yeah! And finally, we love honey.
SOME QUICK NOTES:
Our Scientific Name: Melursus Ursinus
Our Identification: Big and black bear with a long snout.
Our Habitat: Wet tropical forest, Dry tropical forest, Savannah, Grasslands.
Our range:
Our Food habits: Omnivorous; feed on Honey, Mangoes, Sugarcane, Jackfruit, Leaves Various seeds, Small insects, and Termites.
Our Breeding Period: April to June.
Our Gestation Period: About 210 days.
Number of cubs born: 2-3
Lifespan: 20 years in wild, more in captivity.
Estimated Population: less than 20,000
IUCN red list status: Vulnerable
CITES: Appendix I
Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Subfamily: Ursinae
Genus: Melursus
Species: M.ursinus
COMPLETE DETAILS ABOUT US FOR ANIMAL ENTHUSIASTS:
Sloth Bears are also called Labiated bears. They evolved from old brown bears during the Pleistocene period and have insect-eating mammals like features. They are scientifically called as Melursus Ursinus.
How We Look:
We are 60–92 cm high at the shoulder and have a body length of 1.4–1.9 m. We are a medium-sized species though weight can range from 55 to 105 kg in females and from 80 to 145 kg in males.
Our muzzles are thick and long, with small jaws and wide nostrils. We have a specially adapted lower lip that can be stretched allowing us to suck up large numbers of insects.
We have blunt claws which measure 10 cm. Our tail is the longest in the bear family, which can grow to 15–18 cm.
Our back legs are not very strong and are knee joint. Our ears are very large and floppy.
We have a long and shaggy coat and form a mane (like a lion) which can be 30 cm. The belly and under legs are almost bare.
Males and females look alike and the young look similar to adults.
We Are Found In:
We usually prefer living in a wide range of habitats like wet and dry tropical forests, savannahs and grasslands.
We live in India, the southern part of Nepal, Sri Lanka and are extinct in Bangladesh.
We are the most populous bear species in India living in areas with forest cover, low hills bordering the outer range of the Himalayas.
What We Eat:
We are omnivores (Insectivores) and eat various kinds of foods.
We are expert in hunting termites, which we locate by smell. We dig the mound using our powerful claws and we suck the termites from the mound using our long muzzle. Our sense of smell is so strong that we detect larvae of insects 3 ft below ground.
We don’t feed in groups like other bear species. Our vegetarian diet includes mangoes, sugar cane, jackfruit, leaves, and seeds. We also eat honey a lot.
The young cubs of our species eat “bear’s bread” prepared by its mother. It is a mixture of wood apples, pieces of honeycomb and half-digested jackfruit regurgitated and made into dark yellow, circular bread-like food.
This “bear’s bread” is a delicacy in some of India’s native settlements. We prey on other mammals very rarely.
Our Reproduction:
In India, we usually mate in April, May, and June and the female gives birth in December or early January.
In SriLanka, we mate all year. The gestation period is for 210 days. The female gives birth in a cave or under boulders. Generally, one or two and rarely three cubs are born. A newly born cub is blind and opens our eyes after four weeks.
The young cub develops quickly compared to most other bear species: It starts walking in a month after birth, becomes independent at 24–36 months, and become sexually mature at the age of three years.
Young cub ride on its mother’s back when she walks, runs, or climbs trees until it reaches a third of her size
More About Us:
We walk in slow, shambling motion, with our feet creating a noisy, flapping motion. Although we appear slow and clumsy, both young and adults are excellent climbers.
Sloth bear mother carries cubs up to 9 months old on their backs instead of sending our cubs up trees as the defence against attacks by predators.
We are capable of climbing on smooth surfaces and we hang upside down like sloth. We are good swimmers and we mostly play in the water.
We have a great vocal range. We bark, grunt, roar, snarl, woof, and yelp when angered, threatened, or in fights. We shriek, yowl, or whimper when hurt or afraid. We make loud huffing and sucking noises while feeding.
We do not hibernate. We make our bed out of broken branches in trees and rest in caves during the wet season. We are the most nocturnal of all bear species
Our conservation:
The population of ours is not doing well in the world. IUCN estimates that less than 20,000 of us surviving in the wild of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka and listed us as “Vulnerable” in the red list. We are listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which provides for our legal protection. International trade of us is prohibited as we are listed in Appendix I of the CITES.
The human-bear conflict is addressed by educating about conservation ethics to people especially locals. This conflict is majorly due to deforestation which is destroying our habitat. Government is putting an effort in the reforestation process and spreading awareness. Using us for entertainment purpose is banned in India and “sloth bear welfare project” introduced by the government of India monitors illegal usage.
Our population is majorly found in the Daroji bear sanctuary, Karnataka, India.
