What kind of bear is best? Well there are basically two, wait no basically 8 schools of thought. Before we get all judgy and start playing favourites, let’s meet our eight bear friends
0:00 Introduction
0:11 Panda Bear
0:25 Polar Bear
1:09 Brown Bear
1:59 American Black Bear
2:15 Sloth Bear
2:55 Asiatic Black Bear
3:14 Sun Bear
3:40 Spectacled Bear
3:58 So which bear is best?
First there’s the panda bear, or what I call the Rolly Polly Bamboo Bear. These guys live in China, sitting around eating bamboo all day. Are Panda's Bears? People used to think they were some kind of giant racoon, but recently, thanks to DNA evidence we now know that they are real bears after all.
Next is the Polar Bear, or what I call the Snow-White Scare-Bear. Here are some facts about Polar Bears: They live in the arctic, and have traditionally hunted on sea ice. Over time, their bodies have become adapted to hunting on sea ice, with longer snouts and less developed molars, which weren’t needed to grind down the harder food found on land.
Snow-White Scare-Bears can be really dangerous to humans. Another fact about polar bears is that In Churchill Manitoba, where bears migrate through town every year, people leave their car doors unlocked in case you’re walking down the street and need to jump into a car to avoid a bear!
Similar to the polar bear is the brown bear. In North American they’re called Grizzly Bears, but Brown Bears and grizzly bears are the same thing. I like to call them Rolly Polly Danger Bears. Rolly polly danger bears are very cute, especially when they come out of hibernation and go all back scratchy on a tree. But they’re also very dangerous, especially if you get between a mama bear and her cubs.
Rolly Polly Danger Bears and Snow-White Scare-Bears are very similar. In fact they can hybridise in the wild, which means a Rolly Poly and a Snow White can make a baby bear together! Would we call that a Rolly Polly Snow-White Danger Scare Bear?
Next there’s American Black Bears, which where I live are basically Garbage Bears. Not because they’re bad bears, but because they love free food, even if it’s been in the garbage. They’re a little smaller and less aggressive than the Danger Bears, but you still have to be careful around them, especially if you interrupt dinner.
In South Asia they have sloth bears. Sloth bears aren’t lazy though, they’re called sloth bears because they have a large curved claw like a sloth does. This is a special adaptation that helps them eat their favourite food,. Sloth bears are unique among bears in that they eat ants and termites (the scientific word for this is myrmecophagy). They’re more like Ant-Eater Bears.
Also in Asia are the Moon bears which are also called Asiatic Black Bears. They live all across east Asia and the Himalayas, and they have a v-shaped mark on their chest. I like to call these bears “NO LEG DAY EVER” bears, because they have very strong front legs for climbing trees, and comparatively weak back legs.
Closely related to black bears, are the so-called Sun Bears. These are the smallest of the bears, only about 2 feet at the shoulder, what a cute little species of bear! They live in the tropical forests of southeast asia. I like to call them Honey Bears, because they have a reputation for climbing trees to eat honey.
Finally In South America they have Spectacled Bears, which frankly already have a pretty cool name! Spectacled bear are South America’s only species of bear. They were named for their spectacle-like markings around their face, although not all spectacled bears have these markings. These bears live exclusively in the Andes mountains of South America, and prefer to hang out in humid forest mountain habitats.
That’s all the bears! So which is best?
For me, there is one bear that sticks out the most. Is the most adaptable in terms of what it will eat, the most tolerant of disturbance by humans, and the most likely to survive given the way that humans are encroaching on wild places all over the world, and that is the American Black Bear.
Despite what we like about bears, each species of bear, except brown bears and American black bears, are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Most are threatened by loss of habitat due to human encroachment or climate change.
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