Moon Bear

The Asian black bear, also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. Asiatic black bears are found over a wide area of southern Asia. They occur along the mountains from Afghanistan, through Pakistan and northern India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, into Burma and northeastern China. They are also found in southeastern Russia, and on Taiwan and the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku. Asiatic black bears are reclusive, and won't attack humans unless they are wounded, or they believe their cubs are threatened, though there have been instances of unprovoked attacks. Many Asiatic black bears hibernate. They forage in the late summer and fall, creating stores of fat for the winter. Recent studies indicate that Asiatic black bears are hibernating for shorter periods of time (as little as 50 days) due to erratic weather patterns caused by climate change. “Anecdotal information suggests that the bears used to hibernate for around 3-4 months, from mid-December and to mid-March,” says Dr Sambandam. Asiatic Black Bears have their own enemies - leopards, packs of wolves and dholes (a species of wild dogs) can be threats to adult bears, and Eurasian lynx are a threat to cubs. In physical confrontations between black bears and leopards, the bears usually dominate in forests, while leopards tend to win in open areas.

Scientific name: Ursus thibetanus

Family: Ursidae

Kingdom: Animalia

Order: Carnivora

Phylum: Chordata