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

Different Bears  Spectacle bear  American black bears  Brown bear  Sun Bear  Polar Bear  Asiatic Black Bear  Sloth Bear

Spectacle Bear  Adult males weigh pounds and can grow to 5-6 feet in length and stand 30" at shoulder. Females are smaller and weigh 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.

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.

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.

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

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 ( 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.

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

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.

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.

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) ~