Where does the spectacled bear live on the mainland. Spectacled Bear - Mad Zoologist - LiveJournal
Security status: Vulnerable.
Listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature
The spectacled bear is the only species of bear in South America. It constantly faces the problem of habitat loss. This species is considered one of the most emblematic mammals of the tropical Andes.
Description
Spectacled bears are strong animals, having a short and muscular neck, as well as short and strong legs. Like other species, they walk on their heels, with their front legs being larger than their back legs, making bears excellent climbers. The fur is usually black, although it can have dark red-brown hues. Spectacled bears have white to pale yellow markings on their face, neck and chest. These markings may also be present around the eyes, which is the reason for their name. The body length of a spectacled bear is 1.5-2 meters, weight - 140-175 kilograms. Moreover, the size of males exceeds the size of females by approximately 50%.
Social structure
Spectacled bears are generally crepuscular, shy, peaceful and elusive animals that try to avoid human contact as much as possible. They are considered solitary, but can sometimes be found in relatively large groups, provided that their favorite foods are in abundance.
Life cycle
The cubs are born with their eyes closed and weigh about 300 grams. The eyes open at the end of the first month of life. The cubs are black in color and even display distinctive white or yellow markings. Babies grow quite quickly and after 180 days they weigh an average of 10 kilograms. For at least one year after birth, the female does not let go of her offspring. Life expectancy is a little over 20 years.
Reproduction
Pairs form exclusively for breeding purposes, from March to October, indicating the ability to reproduce at different times of the year. Puberty occurs at 4-7 years of a spectacled bear's life. Pregnancy lasts 160-255 days, with 1 to 3 babies born in a litter. The period of birth usually falls on September-February.
Nutrition
Spectacled bears are omnivores, but prefer fruits and various parts of individual plants. They feed high on trees and plants. If the fruits do not have time to ripen, the spectacled bear lives off fibrous parts of vegetation such as bromeliads, soft parts of palm trees, orchid bulbs and even tree bark. In addition, they feed on insects, small rodents and birds.
Current population
The spectacled bear's habitat extends from Venezuela to northern Argentina, including Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. According to some researchers, the largest number of bears can be found on the borders of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
Recently calculated population sizes, in most regions, show small numbers of spectacled bears, with totals for the Northern Andes (excluding Bolivia, Peru and northern Argentina) around 6,000-10,000 individuals.
Spectacled bears choose to live in foggy or Andean forests and upland swampy areas of the Andes (Paramo).
Main threats
The main threats to spectacled bears in all regions are hunting and habitat loss and degradation.
The loss and fragmentation of the species' habitat is associated with the construction of roads, the destruction of forests for the cultivation of illegal plants (coca bushes and opium poppies) and the use of grazing lands for livestock raising. Specially protected areas that preserve habitats and some individuals are not widespread enough for the species to survive across its entire range.
Current land uses include tree felling, land clearing, and the extraction of timber and firewood for farming in the higher mountain regions. Along with the development of infrastructure (construction of highways and roads, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, dams, power lines), achievements in the field of mining, operation of oil wells and other industries, as well as the expansion of land plots for planting prohibited crops, the spectacled bear has lost its natural environment habitat, which is at least 113 patches of wilderness in the mountainous regions between Venezuela and northern Peru.
Hunting is one of the main reasons for the decline of this species. Local residents kill bears for various reasons, including for meat, protection of domestic animals and crops (especially corn), and fear of the animal. There are about 200 individuals of spectacled bears, which are destroyed annually in certain regions.
Spectacled bears are hunted for their various body parts used in trade. Gall bladders are highly valued in Eastern traditional medicine and can bring high profits in the world market.
According to the latest data, the cost of a gallbladder, on average, reaches 150 USD, which is 5 times more than the average salary in Ecuador. There is a large market for bear paws, and you can get from 10 to 20 USD for one paw.
Many of these threats may be largely related to inequalities in land tenure. In the most productive areas of the Northern Andes, ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few, meaning the poorest residents are forced to occupy the limited amount of available land on the mountain slopes inhabited by the spectacled bear.
Rural poverty and the presence of social conflicts in South American countries have intensified a process that, in the case of Colombia, was associated with armed conflict and the cultivation of narcotic plants.
IUCN 3.1 Vulnerable:
It lives mainly in mountain forests (at an altitude of up to 3,000 m) on the western slope of the Andes, but often appears on open meadow slopes and even in low-lying savannas and bushes. Its range includes western Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, western Bolivia and Panama.
Nutrition and habits
The biology of the spectacled bear is poorly studied. These are nocturnal and crepuscular animals that do not hibernate (although they can make dens for themselves).
It is believed that he is the most herbivorous (after the giant panda) bear in the entire family. It feeds mainly on grass shoots, fruits and rhizomes; sometimes climbs tall palm trees, breaks branches, and then eats them on the ground. In some places, the spectacled bear damages corn crops. They tear up anthills and termite mounds; a relatively narrow muzzle and a long tongue allow spectacled bears to penetrate deep into the destroyed insect habitat and feed on them. The spectacled bear is also believed to attack deer, guanacos and vicuñas. Does not disdain carrion.
Spectacled bears are usually solitary but not territorial animals.
Population status
The number of spectacled bears is low (an endangered species); they are listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Classification
The spectacled bear is the only living representative of the genus Tremarctos. In North America, a closely related fossil species, the Florida cave bear, is known ( Tremarctos floridanus).
Gallery
Spectacled Bear.jpg
Spectacled bear at the Moscow Zoo
Spectacled Bear - Houston Zoo.jpg
Spectacled bear at the Houston Zoo
Write a review about the article "The Spectacled Bear"
Notes
An excerpt characterizing the Spectacled Bear
“The gentlemen won’t say anything...” she said. But it was necessary to avoid climbing the stairs, and therefore the wounded man was carried into the outbuilding and laid in the former room of m me Schoss. The wounded man was Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.The last day of Moscow has arrived. It was clear, cheerful autumn weather. It was Sunday. As on ordinary Sundays, mass was announced in all churches. No one, it seemed, could yet understand what awaited Moscow.
Only two indicators of the state of society expressed the situation in which Moscow was: the mob, that is, the class of poor people, and the prices of objects. Factory workers, courtyard workers and peasants in a huge crowd, which included officials, seminarians, and nobles, went out to the Three Mountains early in the morning. Having stood there and not waiting for Rostopchin and making sure that Moscow would be surrendered, this crowd scattered throughout Moscow, into drinking houses and taverns. Prices that day also indicated the state of affairs. The prices for weapons, for gold, for carts and horses kept rising, and the prices for pieces of paper and for city things kept going down, so that in the middle of the day there were cases when the cabbies took out expensive goods, like cloth, for nothing, and for a peasant's horse paid five hundred rubles; furniture, mirrors, bronzes were given away for free.
In the sedate and old Rostov house, the disintegration of previous living conditions was expressed very weakly. The only thing about people was that three people from a huge courtyard disappeared that night; but nothing was stolen; and in relation to the prices of things, it turned out that the thirty carts that came from the villages were enormous wealth, which many envied and for which the Rostovs were offered huge amounts of money. Not only were they offering huge amounts of money for these carts, but from the evening and early morning of September 1st, orderlies and servants sent from the wounded officers came to the Rostovs’ yard, and the wounded themselves, who were placed with the Rostovs and in neighboring houses, were dragged along, and begged the Rostovs’ people to take care of that they be given carts to leave Moscow. The butler, to whom such requests were addressed, although he felt sorry for the wounded, resolutely refused, saying that he would not even dare to report this to the count. No matter how pitiful the remaining wounded were, it was obvious that if they gave up one cart, there was no reason not to give up the other, and give up everything and their crews. Thirty carts could not save all the wounded, and in the general disaster it was impossible not to think about yourself and your family. This is what the butler thought for his master.
Waking up on the morning of the 1st, Count Ilya Andreich quietly left the bedroom so as not to wake up the countess who had just fallen asleep in the morning, and in his purple silk robe he went out onto the porch. The carts, tied up, stood in the yard. Carriages stood at the porch. The butler stood at the entrance, talking with the old orderly and the young, pale officer with his arm tied. The butler, seeing the count, made a significant and stern sign to the officer and orderly to leave.
Titles: spectacled bear, short-faced bear.
Area: The spectacled bear is the only representative of the family in the fauna of South America. It inhabits mountains (up to 3000 m, and even recorded at an altitude of 4200 m) from Colombia to Northern Chile (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela).
Description: Medium sized spectacled bear. Its coat is shaggy, black or with a brownish tint, with the exception of large white markings around the eyes (hence the name “spectacled”) and spots on the chest, very variable in shape, and in some individuals completely absent. The muzzle is shorter than that of other bears, and the legs are long. Its teeth and jaws are adapted to a vegetarian diet. Females are 30-40% smaller than males. These bears have plantigrade feet, in which both the heel and toe touch the ground while walking. Long, curved claws are adapted for digging and extracting food from the soil: insects and their larvae.
Spectacled bears have only 13 pairs of ribs, compared to 14 pairs in other bears, and they are the last remaining representatives of the extinct short-faced bears. The spectacled bear is a direct descendant of the bear that was the largest predator in the Americas during the Ice Age and was known as bulldog bear (Arctodus simus). The largest recorded specimens are estimated to weigh up to 1,000 kg, but on average they weigh approximately 600 kg. Bulldog bears roamed the Americas from approximately 2 million to 10,000 years ago.
Color: The fur is jet black or black-brown, in some individuals it can change to pure brown and even reddish. There are white or yellowish rings around the eyes, connecting with a white semicircle on the throat. Lines or patches of white also extend onto the chest.
Size: In length it reaches no more than 1.5-1.8 m, on average - 1.65 m. Height at the shoulders: 70-90 cm.
Weight: On average, the weight of spectacled bears is about 127.5 kg. Weight of males: 100-155 kg, females: 64-82 kg.
Lifespan: Lives up to 20-25 years. One bear lived in captivity for 36 years and 5 months.
Habitat: The spectacled bear is a very adaptable animal. It, like the brown bear, is found in widely varying habitats. The spectacled bear lives mainly in mountain wet rain forests, but often appears in mixed and dry forests, on open meadow slopes, in low-growing coastal thickets and thickets of bushes, in areas of steppe vegetation.
Food: It is believed that the spectacled bear is the most herbivorous in the entire family. They have a varied diet depending on the season, altitude and food availability. It feeds on leaves, roots, young seedlings, bulbs, but especially prefers bromeliads, orchids and various fruits.
These bears climb large cacti to get to their fruits located at the top. Spectacled bears have extremely strong jaws, allowing them to eat food that other animals cannot, such as tree bark and bromeliad pith. In some places, the spectacled bear damages corn crops.
A small part of their diet consists of nuts, seeds, a few insects and other small animals - animal food makes up only about 4% of their diet.
Bears are known to have a sweet tooth, and they will never turn down the opportunity to feast on wild honey or sugar cane. It happens that they attack deer, guanacos and sometimes kill cattle if they are starving and no other food is available.
At the zoo, it eats a dry food mixture (called chow), vegetables, including sweet potatoes and carrots, and fruits (apples, oranges and grapes).
Behavior: Bears are crepuscular and nocturnal animals, spending the day in gorges or in dense thickets of vegetation near water. They sleep comfortably between or under large tree roots, on tree trunks or in a cave. They are very cautious and secretive in areas inhabited by people, but in uninhabited areas they can often be found in open areas. Spectacled bears are excellent climbers, their claws are specialized for climbing. They deftly climb up trees and vines and often build artificial platforms from branches, leaves and vines on trees in order to comfortably rest and feed there.
There are cases when they climb to a height of over 10 meters to collect tasty fruits. Since their food is often found at the ends of branches that cannot support their weight, they perch and bend the branches under themselves to build a crude nest. As soon as the nest becomes large, strong and sufficient for sleeping, the bear spends up to 3-4 days on such a tree: it sleeps and eats here.
Spectacled bears do not hibernate, probably because their food supply is available and abundant throughout the year. They are timid and always try to avoid meeting people.
Social structure: They are known to be solitary creatures, with the exception of mothers and their young. In captivity, they use a variety of signals to communicate with each other.
Reproduction: During the mating season, the male and female usually stay together for one or two weeks, mating many times. While the female is in estrus, which lasts only one to five days, the male and female go through a ritual of play wrestling until she is ready to conceive.
When the egg is fertilized, it divides for a while and then floats free in the uterus for several months. This causes a delay in embryonic development and helps ensure that the young are born at a time when food is most available and abundant.
Breeding season/period: Mating occurs between May and August. Females give birth from January to March.
Puberty: Females become sexually mature between 4 and 7 years.
Pregnancy: About eight months.
Offspring: Females give birth to 1-3 defenseless young. At birth, puppies are blind and weigh 300-360 grams. The mother takes care and feeds the cubs well, and they grow quickly. After a month, puppies can leave the den with their mother in search of food, and after 6-8 months they can provide their own food.
Often, little bear cubs travel through the forest with their mother, often riding on her back.
Benefit/harm for humans: Spectacled bears are hunted for their meat, fur, fat and bile. The meat is especially popular among the local population in northern Peru. The fat is used to treat rheumatism and arthritis. Gall bladders are sold and used in traditional Asian medicine. Recent estimates put the price of one gallbladder at $150, which is five times the average monthly wage in Ecuador. Previously, poachers killed bears due to the high demand in the market for bear paws, where one paw could fetch from $10 to $20.
South American farmers persecute these bears for attacking their livestock. There were cases when some bears began to kill a cow every day until they themselves were killed. Farmers also view bears as a threat to their corn fields. They treat the fields with special pesticides to keep bears away from them. But sometimes entire families of bears are destroyed by these poisons. The actual damage done by these bears may be overestimated and actually caused by birds and forest rodents.
Population/Conservation Status: The wild population of spectacled bears is estimated to number between 2,000 and 2,400 individuals. Habitat destruction and fragmentation due to agricultural growth are the biggest reasons for the decline in the numbers of these bears. Bears are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN and are in CITES: Appendix I.
Copyright holder: Zooclub portal
When reprinting this article, an active link to the source is MANDATORY, otherwise, use of the article will be considered a violation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.
The bear is the largest predator on earth. This animal belongs to the class mammals, order carnivores, family bears, genus bears ( Ursus). The bear appeared on the planet about 6 million years ago and has always been a symbol of power and strength.
Bear - description, characteristics, structure. What does a bear look like?
Depending on the species, the body length of a predator can vary from 1.2 to 3 meters, and the weight of a bear varies from 40 kg to a ton. The body of these animals is large, stocky, with a thick, short neck and a large head. Powerful jaws make it easy to chew both plant and meat foods. The limbs are rather short and slightly curved. Therefore, the bear walks, swaying from side to side, and rests on its entire foot. The speed of a bear in moments of danger can reach 50 km/h. With the help of large and sharp claws, these animals extract food from the ground, tear apart prey and climb trees. Many species of bears are good swimmers. The polar bear has a special membrane between its toes for this purpose. The lifespan of a bear can reach 45 years.
Bears do not have sharp eyesight or well-developed hearing. This is compensated by an excellent sense of smell. Sometimes animals stand on their hind legs to use their sense of smell to obtain information about their surroundings.
Thick bear fur covering the body has a different color: from reddish-brown to black, white in polar bears or black and white in pandas. Species with dark fur turn gray and gray in old age.
Does a bear have a tail?
Yes, but only the giant panda has a noticeable tail. In other species it is short and almost indistinguishable in the fur.
Types of bears, names and photos
In the bear family, zoologists distinguish 8 species of bears, which are divided into many different subspecies:
- Brown bear (common bear) (Ursus arctos)
The appearance of a predator of this species is typical for all representatives of the bear family: a powerful body, rather high at the withers, a massive head with rather small ears and eyes, a short, barely noticeable tail, and large paws with very powerful claws. The body of a brown bear is covered with thick fur with brownish, dark gray, and reddish colors, which vary depending on the habitat of the “clubfoot”. Baby bear cubs often have large light tan marks on the chest or neck area, although these marks disappear with age.
The distribution range of the brown bear is wide: it is found in the mountain systems of the Alps and on the Apennine Peninsula, common in Finland and the Carpathians, and feels comfortable in Scandinavia, Asia, China, the northwestern United States and Russian forests.
- Polar (white) bear (Ursus maritimus)
It is the largest representative of the family: its body length often reaches 3 meters, and its weight can exceed one ton. It has a long neck and a slightly flattened head - this distinguishes it from its counterparts of other species. The color of the bear’s fur is from boiling white to slightly yellowish; the hairs are hollow inside, so they give the bear’s “fur coat” excellent thermal insulation properties. The soles of the paws are thickly lined with tufts of coarse fur, which allows the polar bear to easily move across the ice without slipping. There is a membrane between the toes that facilitates the swimming process. The habitat of this bear species is the circumpolar regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
- Baribal (black bear) (Ursus americanus)
The bear is a little similar to its brown relative, but differs from it in its smaller size and blue-black fur. The length of an adult baribal does not exceed two meters, and female bears are even smaller - their body is usually 1.5 meters long. A pointed muzzle, long paws ending in rather short feet - this is what makes this representative of bears remarkable. By the way, baribals can become black only in the third year of life, receiving a gray or brownish color at birth. The black bear's habitat is vast: from the vastness of Alaska to the territories of Canada and hot Mexico.
- Malayan bear (biruang) (Helarctos malayanus)
The most “miniature” species among its bear counterparts: its length does not exceed 1.3-1.5 meters, and the height at the withers is slightly more than half a meter. This type of bear has a stocky build, a short, rather wide muzzle with small round ears. The paws of the Malayan bear are high, while the large, long feet with huge claws look a little disproportionate. The body is covered with short and very tough black-brown fur; the animal’s chest is “decorated” with a white-red spot. The Malayan bear lives in the southern regions of China, Thailand and Indonesia.
- White-breasted (Himalayan) bear (Ursus thibetanus)
The slender physique of the Himalayan bear is not very large in size - this representative of the family is twice as small as its brown relative: the male has a length of 1.5-1.7 meters, while the height at the withers is only 75-80 cm, females are even smaller. The bear's body, covered with shiny and silky fur of dark brown or black color, is crowned by a head with a pointed muzzle and large round ears. A mandatory “attribute” of the Himalayan bear’s appearance is a spectacular white or yellowish spot on the chest. This type of bear lives in Iran and Afghanistan, is found in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, in Korea, Vietnam, China and Japan, and feels at ease in the vastness of the Khabarovsk Territory and in the south of Yakutia.
- Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
A medium-sized predator - length 1.5-1.8 meters, height at the withers from 70 to 80 cm. The muzzle is short, not too wide. The fur of the spectacled bear is shaggy, has a black or black-brown tint, and there are always white-yellow rings around the eyes, smoothly turning into a whitish “collar” of fur on the animal’s neck. The habitat of this type of bear is the countries of South America: Colombia and Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.
- Gubach (Melursus ursinus)
A predator with a body length of up to 1.8 meters, height at the withers varies from 65 to 90 centimeters, females are approximately 30% smaller than males in both respects. The body of the sloth fish is massive, the head is large, with a flat forehead and an overly elongated muzzle, which ends in mobile, completely hairless, protruding lips. The bear's fur is long, usually black or dirty brown in color, and in the area of the animal's neck it often forms something like a shaggy mane. The sloth bear's chest has a light spot. The habitat of this type of bear is India, some areas of Pakistan, Bhutan, the territory of Bangladesh and Nepal.
- Big panda (bamboo bear) ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
This type of bear has a massive, squat body, which is covered with dense, thick black and white fur. The paws are short, thick, with sharp claws and completely hairless pads: this allows pandas to firmly hold smooth and slippery bamboo stems. The structure of the front paws of these bears is very unusually developed: five ordinary fingers are complemented by a large sixth, although it is not a real finger, but a modified bone. Such amazing paws enable the panda to easily handle the thinnest shoots of bamboo. The bamboo bear lives in the mountainous regions of China, with especially large populations living in Tibet and Sichuan.
The spectacled bear, also called the Andean bear, is a predatory mammal of the bear family.
Habitat of the spectacled bear
Spectacled bears live in the western and southern regions of the South American continent - in eastern Panama, western regions of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador. In addition, representatives of the species are found in western Colombia and eastern Panama. The animal is also found in northwestern Argentina and Bolivia.
Appearance of a spectacled bear
Spectacled bears are strong animals, having a short and muscular neck, as well as short and strong legs. Like other species, they walk on their heels, with their front legs being larger than their back legs, making bears excellent climbers. The fur is usually black, although it can have dark red-brown hues. Spectacled bears have white to pale yellow markings on their face, neck and chest. These markings may also be present around the eyes, which is the reason for their name. The body length of a spectacled bear is 1.5-2 meters, weight - 140-175 kilograms. Moreover, the size of males exceeds the size of females by approximately 50%.
Lifestyle and nutrition of the spectacled bear
Despite the fact that the animal belongs to the order of predators, its diet consists mainly of plant products: roots, leaves, fruits, sprouts, bark. The spectacled bear especially loves fruit. Less than 5% of its diet consists of insects and small animals. These bears eat seeds and nuts, as well as sugar cane and wild honey.
During the day, the spectacled bear sleeps. It settles on or under a tree, sometimes in a cave. And at dusk it goes out in search of food and feeds all night. This animal climbs well and builds shelters on branches by bending branches. He spends several days in such a “nest”: he eats and sleeps. The spectacled bear does not hibernate during winter.
Spectacled bears are peaceful and elusive animals that try as much as possible to avoid contact with humans. They are considered solitary, but can sometimes be found in relatively large groups, provided that their favorite foods are in abundance.
Only females with cubs are aggressive. Mother bears bravely protect their babies; they are even ready to die for them. The female may attack a person if he threatens the safety of her cubs.
Reproduction and life expectancy of the spectacled bear
Pairs form exclusively for breeding purposes, from March to October, indicating the ability to reproduce at different times of the year. Puberty occurs at 4-7 years of a spectacled bear's life.
The gestation period, including the latent period, is 8-8.5 months. The female gives birth to 1-3 cubs. The babies are blind and completely helpless; they weigh no more than 300-350 grams. But the cubs grow quickly and within a month they begin to emerge from the den.
At the age of 6 months, babies accompany their mother everywhere. Their mother teaches them to eat right and find healthy plant foods. The cubs do not leave their mother until they are 2 years old, after which they begin to lead an independent life.
The lifespan of spectacled bears in the wild is a maximum of 20-22 years, and in captivity they live up to 25-27 years. In the Moscow Zoo, the bear Klausina lived to be thirty years old.
Population status and protection of the spectacled bear
According to estimates, the wild population of spectacled bears numbers up to 2000-2400 individuals. Habitat destruction and fragmentation due to agricultural growth are the biggest reasons for the decline in the numbers of these bears. Bears are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN and are in CITES: Appendix I.