sloth bear is a small- to medium-size bear found in the lowland forests of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Able to thrive in a variety of habits, including thorn scrub, grasslands and dense forests, as long a sufficient food supply is available, these animals are unique among bear species in that they feed primarily on ants and termites like and anteater and females carry their young on their back. [Source: Adele Conover, Smithsonian; John Eliot, National Geographic, November 2004]
The first reports of sloth bears by European hunters in India described their trunklike snouts, their habit of hanging from tree limbs and their baby-like cries. John Eliot wrote in National Geographic, “ Scientific blunders can live on forever. When 18th-century European museum curators were first sent specimens of a large furry mammal with long curved white claws, they named it “bear-like sloth” because its claws resemble those of South American sloths. Later taxonomists realized that the species was a tropical bear unrelated to sloths, but its wrongheaded name remains—the sloth bear. They sound like bellows when using their flexible snouts and lips to blow away dirt and suck up termites and ants. But don’t be misled: This frowsy, gentle-looking bear can be ferocious, occasionally mauling or killing villagers who enter the forest. Yoganand often talks with villagers to help minimize conflicts. “Attacks can be prevented if people avoid certain places.”
It is estimated that between 10,000 and 25,000 sloth bears remain, primarily in enclaves scattered across India, where between 6,000 and 11,000 of them live . Their numbers have been reduced by poaching and habitat loss. In the old days they were hunted out of many areas. Now they survive mostly in isolated enclaves. In some part of India cubs are abducted for the dancing bear trade. Sloth bears many of the same areas as tigers and conservation efforts to help tigers have also helped sloth bears.
Sloth bears are 1.4 to 1.8 meter (4½ to 6 feet) long, with a 7 to 13 centimeter tail. Looking like big balls of unkept fur, they have a stocky body and short, powerful limbs. The animals’ course fur gives them a slovenly appearance but it also helps protect them from stinging insect bites. The fur is thickest on the back of the neck, making the bear look like it has a mane. The fur is relatively sparse on its belly and underlegs, perhaps to keep the animal cool in hot weather. Sloth bears have long, non-retractile foreclaws and a white V on their upper chests that varies from a U shape to a Y or O. In the old days hunters used the white mark as target when they shoot the bears. They don’t seem to be too bothered by the heat and often seen sleeping in the day, exposed to the hot tropucal sun.
