Untitled Document

Bear species found in India

Himalayan Brown Bear: Ursus arctos Linnacus, 1758;

(In Kalandar language the Sunhera Bhalu)

Description: Himalayan brown bears are variable in colour and generally appear a sandy or reddish-brown from a distance. Their pelage is long and tends to be matted with dense underwool. The ears are small and rounded and the lips are noticeably protrusible and mobile. The second pre-molar is generally absent. The females are smaller and lighter in build. Adult males vary from 1.5m up to 2.2m in body length, while females vary from 1.37m to 1.83m. The tail in adult specimens is approximately 7.6cm long.

Biology: Brown bears feed on insects, small crustaceans, alpine bulbs and roots of plants, shoots of young grasses, domestic goats, sheep, and voles (Alticola species). Brown bears feed actively from 1-2 hours before sunrise and again for several hours in the late afternoon and evening. They are nocturnal, and their sense of smell is acutely developed and believed to be their principal means of finding food.

Adult bears normally go into hibernation at the end of October and emerge around the following March or April. They excavate their own hibernating lair or den under a large boulder or between the roots of a stunted tree, or they may utilise a natural cavern. Hibernation appears to be intermittent, with the animal occasionally waking up and becoming active.

Mating occurs in the spring and early summer, and the females give birth to cubs duringerally two in number, are blind and weigh no more than one pound at birth. They are covered with short, silky, rather dark brown hair. Born in January, the cubs stay in the lair with their mother until she first emerges from hibernation in late April, and will remain with their mother for two to three years. Females are believed to breed first at the age of five years. their winter hibernation. The gestation period is from 180-250 days. The cubs, gen

Distribution and Status: The Himalayan brown bear is generally restricted to alpine meadow and sub-alpine scrub zones above the tree-line in the northern mountain regions of India having Dachigam and Kashmir as its limits. The brown bear is uncommon in India and is considered rare. According to Dr. A.J.T. Singh, (Wildlife Institute of India, letter to Servheen,1988,) the brown bear was sighted just twice during a 9 month Snow Leopard survey in the Jammu and Kashmir States. Hence status of population is unknown. International trade in these bears, or their parts, is banned under CITES ( Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and by the Wildlife Protection Act in India.

Asiatic Black Bear: Selenarctos thibetanus G. Cuvier, 1823.

(Himalayan Black Bear) (In Kalandar language Kocheela Reech)

Description: The Himalayan black bear has dense, shiny, black fur. However, there is no under-wool in this species. They have a ruff of extra-long coarse hairs on the cheeks and on each side of the neck. There is a conspicuous creamy yellow V extending from the sternum up to the armpits (axillae of fore limbs). The rest of the body is jet black, except for the muzzle which is reddish brown. There are four pre-molars present in the upper jaw. The round ears are set wide apart on the crown with the tips bearing quite a long fringe of hair. The claws on the fore-feet are horny and black in colour. They are shorter, more sharply curved, and are better adapted to different food preferences and to assist in tree climbing. The tail is just a stump measuring from 75-100mm. The fore-paws tend to be turned inwards when walking and are very powerfully developed. Males grow larger in size than females. An adult male may measure up to 1.80m in length. Adult females are about 30cm shorter.

Biology: Himalayan black bears climb trees freely, and are fond of acorns from the Hollyhock (Quercus balut) and Quercus dilatata.They feed extensively on mulberries (Morus alba) and apricots, rose hips (Rosa webbiana), insects and small crustacea, mushrooms, grass, and goat or sheep carrion. They have an uncertain temper and are likely to attack human beings if suddenly disturbed. The Himalayan black bears also feed on fruits of Ber (Zizyphus Russian Olive nummularia), and on lizards and insects.

Mating is believed to take place in October with the young being born in February while the female is still hibernating in her winter lair. Two young are produced which are very small and blind at birth. They stay with their mother throughout the summer and the next two years. The Himalayan black bear generally goes into hibernation in winter. The other Asiatic black bears do not always undergo prolonged or deep hibernation and will emerge to forage even during the winter months. When fighting or attacking, these bears make swipes with their fore paws and can inflict terrible injuries with their claws. Their sense of smell is acutely developed and is largely relied upon in detecting food or danger. If they encounter a human or any suspicious object they generally approach closer in order to pick up and identify the scent.

Distribution and status: The habitat of the Himalayan black bear is Himalayan moist, temperate forests, and it does not ascend above the permanent tree-line into alpine regions. The Himalayan black bear and its sub-species are protected by The Wildlife Protection Act in India. However according to Dr A.J.T. Johnsingh (Wildlife Institute of India, letter to Servheen, 1988) sightings of the Himalayan Black Bear are common only in the Dachigam National Park, in Jammu and Kashmir State, and according to Dr. B. Bhushan (letter to Servheen , 1988) the Himalayan Black Bear was reported seen from only 2 of the 67 national parks and sanctuaries. This lends credence then to the doubts entertained by Traffic International, that the huge quantities of gall bladders supplied from India may be from the Sloth bear, and not from the Himalayan Black Bear, since their numbers are so low.

The Sloth Bear -Melursus Ursinus

(The Kalandars simply call it Reech )

Description: The average height at the shoulders is 2’2” to 2’9”. The average length is 4’6” to 5’6”. Males grow larger in size than females and a male up on its hind legs can measure 5’-6’. The weight varies between 128 -145 kg in males and 85 -110 kg in females. The Sloth Bear has a shaggy and long-haired rough coat, which prevents angry ants and termites from reaching its skin. The long coat keeps it warm for like other ant-eating mammals it has a low metabolic rate. It has a mobile and relatively long snout. It has a yellow or white V extending from the sternum to the armpits, not as broad or conspicuous as the Himalayan Black Bear’s. The species peculiar appearance is related to its feeding habits, to the fact it is “myrmecophagous”, in other words it eats ants and termites. (David Garshelis, George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation) . The Sloth Bear’s three inch ivory coloured claws are eminently suitable for digging up beetles and termite nests. Its loose lips and long snout, together with a concave palate, gives the animal extra sucking power. Its front two upper incisors are missing allowing it to draw in insects through the gap.
To prevent ingesting dirt along with the ants the bear pushes against the hole it has dug, closing the flaps of its nose pad before sucking its meal. This is also responsible for the hoarse sucking snuffle it makes. On each of the forepaws is an extended pad on the outside, which allows it to grasp things better and scale trees when it is after honey from the bee hives. Sloth Bears annually range in a smaller area than other bears; typically a female will range about 3 miles and males about four to five miles, (Dr. Anup Joshi, Chitwan Sanctuary, Interview with George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation). However Dr, Vasanthi Iswariah in a study of sloth bears in Karnataka, 1985, speaks of the bears ranging between ten and fifteen kilometers in one night for food. While the Himalayan Black Bear hibernates in winter the Sloth Bear does not need to and is merely a little lethargic which suits the Kalandar very well. The Sloth bear is almost nocturnal in its habits due to the pressures of human habitation inside protected forest areas and sanctuaries.

Biology: Much of its diet consists of fruits, such as the Ber, Jambul, bael, Banyan wild figs, lantana, jackfruit, mangoes, mahua and mulberries. Its main insect foods are ants and termites, large dung beetles and longicorn beetles. Attracted to corn, sugarcane, maize and date palms, they may raid farmers’ crops making them the target of the farmer’s ire. Cases have been recorded of their addiction to toddy and country liquor in Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. Although by and large Dr Anup Joshi records in the article mentioned earlier, the Sloth bear avoids going near man and his settlements, throughout the Indian States there are growing reports of violent confrontations between villagers and the Sloth bear, with attacks on cattle

Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun). Dr. Vasanthi Iswariah in a study of Sloth bears in Karnataka, 1984, also highlights the increasing frequency of attacks by bears on villagers because of degraded habitat which sends the bears into the sugarcane and groundnut crops.
Mating takes place in the hot season which varies in the different States between April to August. The gestation period is approximately 6 months and the cubs are born anywhere between late November and end February so that the cubs are caught by the trappers / hunters approximately from end-December to end February and reach the bear cub markets around this period. Sloth bears rarely have more than two cubs and often spend up to two years caring for them. They are extremely possessive and angry mothers and will go right up to trappers / hunters and confront them, while trying fiercely to protect their young (Dr Anup Joshi, Chitwan National Park, interview with George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation). In the 146 Kalandar questionnaires administered by the investigators, to the question what was the chief danger in capturing the cubs, the Kalandar responded (98%): the ferocity of the defending mother bear. David Garshelis, (interviewed by George Nobbe in “The Shaggy Bear”, Wildlife Conservation, 1990,) points out the Sloth Bear is more susceptible to over-exploitation because it has a low reproductive rate, reaching sexual maturity relatively later than other bears. Hence this relentless trapping of the cubs, sometimes involving the killing of the mother bear, does not portend any good for its future. Their average life in the wild is between 30 - 35 years but in captivity according to most authorities they could average 20 years. However our questionnaires revealed that more than 60% of the bears were less than ten years old; and another 30% were between the ages 10 and 14 years old; and only 10% were above 15 years old. We found no bear above that age. Hence the age and life expectancy of the captive dancing bear is perhaps a lot shorter than previously conjectured.

Distribution and Status: The Sloth Bear once ranged through all the forests of the Indian sub-continent, South of the Himalayas. It was possible to find them in all the States of India and in almost all the sanctuaries and national parks. The central, tropical, deciduous forests appear to be its optimal habitat, as in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Orissa, and also the once heavily forested border between Nepal and India. Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks still report the presence of sloth bears, albeit in decreased numbers. In 1989 it was proposed to CITES to put the Sloth Bear on the Appendix I List. It appears as a Schedule I animal in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, of India. In a 1982 “survey” of unknown authorship cited in the New York Times, 5 July 1988, and quoted by Servheen in a paper entitled “The Status and Conservation of the Bears of the World”, presented in 1989 at a conference on Bear Research and Management, Canada, it is conjectured that over 10,000 sloth bears still exist in India. However the information currently available on numbers and distribution is highly debated. Indian Wildlife government officials and the Forest departments typically deny any large scale poaching or capturing; and insist the Sloth bear’s gall bladder is “of no value” hence it does not feature in the trade of bear parts. Consequently they put the numbers of sloth bears in the wild quite high, almost double that figure.




	Bear species found in India	Contents

	Himalayan Brown Bear: Ursus arctos Linnacus, 1758;
	(In Kalandar language the Sunhera Bhalu)

	Description: Himalayan brown bears are variable in colour and generally appear a sandy or reddish-brown from a distance. Their pelage is long and tends to be matted with dense underwool. The ears are small and rounded and the lips are noticeably protrusible and mobile. The second pre-molar is generally absent. The females are smaller and lighter in build. Adult males vary from 1.5m up to 2.2m in body length, while females vary from 1.37m to 1.83m. The tail in adult specimens is approximately 7.6cm long.

	Biology: Brown bears feed on insects, small crustaceans, alpine bulbs and roots of plants, shoots of young grasses, domestic goats, sheep, and voles (Alticola species). Brown bears feed actively from 1-2 hours before sunrise and again for several hours in the late afternoon and evening. They are nocturnal, and their sense of smell is acutely developed and believed to be their principal means of finding food.

	Adult bears normally go into hibernation at the end of October and emerge around the following March or April. They excavate their own hibernating lair or den under a large boulder or between the roots of a stunted tree, or they may utilise a natural cavern. Hibernation appears to be intermittent, with the animal occasionally waking up and becoming active.

	Mating occurs in the spring and early summer, and the females give birth to cubs duringerally two in number, are blind and weigh no more than one pound at birth. They are covered with short, silky, rather dark brown hair. Born in January, the cubs stay in the lair with their mother until she first emerges from hibernation in late April, and will remain with their mother for two to three years. Females are believed to breed first at the age of five years. their winter hibernation. The gestation period is from 180-250 days. The cubs, gen

	Distribution and Status: The Himalayan brown bear is generally restricted to alpine meadow and sub-alpine scrub zones above the tree-line in the northern mountain regions of India having Dachigam and Kashmir as its limits. The brown bear is uncommon in India and is considered rare. According to Dr. A.J.T. Singh, (Wildlife Institute of India, letter to Servheen,1988,) the brown bear was sighted just twice during a 9 month Snow Leopard survey in the Jammu and Kashmir States. Hence status of population is unknown. International trade in these bears, or their parts, is banned under CITES ( Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and by the Wildlife Protection Act in India.
	Asiatic Black Bear: Selenarctos thibetanus G. Cuvier, 1823.
	(Himalayan Black Bear) (In Kalandar language Kocheela Reech)
	Description: The Himalayan black bear has dense, shiny, black fur. However, there is no under-wool in this species. They have a ruff of extra-long coarse hairs on the cheeks and on each side of the neck. There is a conspicuous creamy yellow V extending from the sternum up to the armpits (axillae of fore limbs). The rest of the body is jet black, except for the muzzle which is reddish brown. There are four pre-molars present in the upper jaw. The round ears are set wide apart on the crown with the tips bearing quite a long fringe of hair. The claws on the fore-feet are horny and black in colour. They are shorter, more sharply curved, and are better adapted to different food preferences and to assist in tree climbing. The tail is just a stump measuring from 75-100mm. The fore-paws tend to be turned inwards when walking and are very powerfully developed. Males grow larger in size than females. An adult male may measure up to 1.80m in length. Adult females are about 30cm shorter.
	Biology: Himalayan black bears climb trees freely, and are fond of acorns from the Hollyhock (Quercus balut) and Quercus dilatata.They feed extensively on mulberries (Morus alba) and apricots, rose hips (Rosa webbiana), insects and small crustacea, mushrooms, grass, and goat or sheep carrion. They have an uncertain temper and are likely to attack human beings if suddenly disturbed. The Himalayan black bears also feed on fruits of Ber (Zizyphus Russian Olive nummularia), and on lizards and insects. Mating is believed to take place in October with the young being born in February while the female is still hibernating in her winter lair. Two young are produced which are very small and blind at birth. They stay with their mother throughout the summer and the next two years. The Himalayan black bear generally goes into hibernation in winter. The other Asiatic black bears do not always undergo prolonged or deep hibernation and will emerge to forage even during the winter months. When fighting or attacking, these bears make swipes with their fore paws and can inflict terrible injuries with their claws. Their sense of smell is acutely developed and is largely relied upon in detecting food or danger. If they encounter a human or any suspicious object they generally approach closer in order to pick up and identify the scent.
	Distribution and status: The habitat of the Himalayan black bear is Himalayan moist, temperate forests, and it does not ascend above the permanent tree-line into alpine regions. The Himalayan black bear and its sub-species are protected by The Wildlife Protection Act in India. However according to Dr A.J.T. Johnsingh (Wildlife Institute of India, letter to Servheen, 1988) sightings of the Himalayan Black Bear are common only in the Dachigam National Park, in Jammu and Kashmir State, and according to Dr. B. Bhushan (letter to Servheen , 1988) the Himalayan Black Bear was reported seen from only 2 of the 67 national parks and sanctuaries. This lends credence then to the doubts entertained by Traffic International, that the huge quantities of gall bladders supplied from India may be from the Sloth bear, and not from the Himalayan Black Bear, since their numbers are so low.
	The Sloth Bear -Melursus Ursinus
	(The Kalandars simply call it Reech )

	Description: The average height at the shoulders is 2’2” to 2’9”. The average length is 4’6” to 5’6”. Males grow larger in size than females and a male up on its hind legs can measure 5’-6’. The weight varies between 128 -145 kg in males and 85 -110 kg in females. The Sloth Bear has a shaggy and long-haired rough coat, which prevents angry ants and termites from reaching its skin. The long coat keeps it warm for like other ant-eating mammals it has a low metabolic rate. It has a mobile and relatively long snout. It has a yellow or white V extending from the sternum to the armpits, not as broad or conspicuous as the Himalayan Black Bear’s. The species peculiar appearance is related to its feeding habits, to the fact it is “myrmecophagous”, in other words it eats ants and termites. (David Garshelis, George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation) . The Sloth Bear’s three inch ivory coloured claws are eminently suitable for digging up beetles and termite nests. Its loose lips and long snout, together with a concave palate, gives the animal extra sucking power. Its front two upper incisors are missing allowing it to draw in insects through the gap. To prevent ingesting dirt along with the ants the bear pushes against the hole it has dug, closing the flaps of its nose pad before sucking its meal. This is also responsible for the hoarse sucking snuffle it makes. On each of the forepaws is an extended pad on the outside, which allows it to grasp things better and scale trees when it is after honey from the bee hives. Sloth Bears annually range in a smaller area than other bears; typically a female will range about 3 miles and males about four to five miles, (Dr. Anup Joshi, Chitwan Sanctuary, Interview with George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation). However Dr, Vasanthi Iswariah in a study of sloth bears in Karnataka, 1985, speaks of the bears ranging between ten and fifteen kilometers in one night for food. While the Himalayan Black Bear hibernates in winter the Sloth Bear does not need to and is merely a little lethargic which suits the Kalandar very well. The Sloth bear is almost nocturnal in its habits due to the pressures of human habitation inside protected forest areas and sanctuaries.
	Biology: Much of its diet consists of fruits, such as the Ber, Jambul, bael, Banyan wild figs, lantana, jackfruit, mangoes, mahua and mulberries. Its main insect foods are ants and termites, large dung beetles and longicorn beetles. Attracted to corn, sugarcane, maize and date palms, they may raid farmers’ crops making them the target of the farmer’s ire. Cases have been recorded of their addiction to toddy and country liquor in Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. Although by and large Dr Anup Joshi records in the article mentioned earlier, the Sloth bear avoids going near man and his settlements, throughout the Indian States there are growing reports of violent confrontations between villagers and the Sloth bear, with attacks on cattle Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun). Dr. Vasanthi Iswariah in a study of Sloth bears in Karnataka, 1984, also highlights the increasing frequency of attacks by bears on villagers because of degraded habitat which sends the bears into the sugarcane and groundnut crops. Mating takes place in the hot season which varies in the different States between April to August. The gestation period is approximately 6 months and the cubs are born anywhere between late November and end February so that the cubs are caught by the trappers / hunters approximately from end-December to end February and reach the bear cub markets around this period. Sloth bears rarely have more than two cubs and often spend up to two years caring for them. They are extremely possessive and angry mothers and will go right up to trappers / hunters and confront them, while trying fiercely to protect their young (Dr Anup Joshi, Chitwan National Park, interview with George Nobbe, Wildlife Conservation). In the 146 Kalandar questionnaires administered by the investigators, to the question what was the chief danger in capturing the cubs, the Kalandar responded (98%): the ferocity of the defending mother bear. David Garshelis, (interviewed by George Nobbe in “The Shaggy Bear”, Wildlife Conservation, 1990,) points out the Sloth Bear is more susceptible to over-exploitation because it has a low reproductive rate, reaching sexual maturity relatively later than other bears. Hence this relentless trapping of the cubs, sometimes involving the killing of the mother bear, does not portend any good for its future. Their average life in the wild is between 30 - 35 years but in captivity according to most authorities they could average 20 years. However our questionnaires revealed that more than 60% of the bears were less than ten years old; and another 30% were between the ages 10 and 14 years old; and only 10% were above 15 years old. We found no bear above that age. Hence the age and life expectancy of the captive dancing bear is perhaps a lot shorter than previously conjectured.
	Distribution and Status: The Sloth Bear once ranged through all the forests of the Indian sub-continent, South of the Himalayas. It was possible to find them in all the States of India and in almost all the sanctuaries and national parks. The central, tropical, deciduous forests appear to be its optimal habitat, as in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Orissa, and also the once heavily forested border between Nepal and India. Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks still report the presence of sloth bears, albeit in decreased numbers. In 1989 it was proposed to CITES to put the Sloth Bear on the Appendix I List. It appears as a Schedule I animal in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, of India. In a 1982 “survey” of unknown authorship cited in the New York Times, 5 July 1988, and quoted by Servheen in a paper entitled “The Status and Conservation of the Bears of the World”, presented in 1989 at a conference on Bear Research and Management, Canada, it is conjectured that over 10,000 sloth bears still exist in India. However the information currently available on numbers and distribution is highly debated. Indian Wildlife government officials and the Forest departments typically deny any large scale poaching or capturing; and insist the Sloth bear’s gall bladder is “of no value” hence it does not feature in the trade of bear parts. Consequently they put the numbers of sloth bears in the wild quite high, almost double that figure.

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