How many bears are there

Bears are killed out of concern for human safety or in retaliation for hunting livestock or crop-raiding. Some species of bears, including Asiatic black bears and sun bears, are also threatened by the illegal wildlife trade. Bear bile, which is produced in the gall bladder, is an important ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.

Asiatic black bears and sun bears may be poached for their gall bladders, paws, skins, and other parts. Sometimes American black bears are also targeted for the same reasons. Climate change is also a significant threat, especially polar bears. Melting sea ice poses an existential threat to polar bears. All rights reserved. Common Name: Bears. Scientific Name: Ursidae.

Type: Mammals. Diet: Omnivore. Size: 4 to 8 feet tall. Weight: 60 to 1, pounds. Males can weigh — kilograms — lb , and females 35 —82 kilograms 77 — lb. Length can range from to cm 47—79 in , with a tail length of a mere 7 cm 2.

Compared to other living bears, this species has a more rounded face with a relatively short and broad snout. Credit -text- Wikipedia. Photo credits-files from the Wikimedia Commons. Weight: Around lbs kg males ; around lbs kg females. The giant panda is a rare, endangered and elusive bear. Science used to believe that the giant panda was a member of the raccoon family.

With DNA analyses science proved itself wrong. The giant panda and the red panda are not related. Giant pandas are famous for their love of bamboo, a diet so nutritionally poor that the pandas have to consume up to 20kg each day. Unlike other bears, giant pandas do not hibernate. In the winter, they move to lower elevations to keep warm, while traveling to higher elevations in the summer to stay cool. They can be active at any time of the day or night. Credits- text- various sources.

Photo credits-www. Ever wondered why bears rarely freeze even in cold weather conditions? Well, their coat is made up of two layers. The shorter coat insulates it against the weather, while the longer coat prevents the water from reaching the short coat. This makes a perfect survival solution for them. Naturally, bears are omnivores that enjoy the taste of honey.

They can eat anything from seals, berries, insects, fruits to bamboo sticks. Sloth bears have an extraordinary appetite for termites thanks to their ferocious eating habits. Brown bears in Alaska, on the other hand, enjoy gorging on spawning salmon by yanking them out of water or catching them from the air as they jump.

Bears are natural hunters and this ignites their fear of losing their natural habitats to agriculture and encroachment. This means that there may be human-wildlife conflict. Bears may be poached for their skins, or paws. When bears sense danger, they may respond with aggressive attacks on humans.

The omnivore bears depend greatly on beehives and honey for their food. They also feed on insects like ants and termites, fruits, and shoots of palms, flowers, etc. Sadly, sun bears suffer great distress due to human cruelty and are captured and kept in bear bile farms in China where they are subjected to extreme cruelty.

Bear bile is used in preparing traditional Chinese medicines. Sun bears also are killed for other purposes and are captured for the pet trade.

Habitat loss also leads to the decline of this species. The sloth bear or the labiated bear Melursus ursinus is an insectivorous, nocturnal bear that lives in the Indian subcontinent. Sloth bears have lankier builds, shaggy coats, and specially adapted mouthparts for sucking insects. The bears feed on honeybee colonies, fruits, and termites. For years, these bears have been used as performing pets, but the practice has been stopped by law in India.

The bears have also been hunted extensively for food, claws, and bacula. The bears prefer to inhabit humid montane forests in their range.