Featured Animal: Asian Black Bear

Asian Black Bears are found in the forests of central and eastern Asia, mainly dwelling in caves or hollow trees, where they sleep all day! Asian black bears are nocturnal animals meaning that they only go out at night to forage for food.

Asian black bears are outstanding tree climbers and are generally found around the mountain regions in Asia. Asian black bears will eat most things from fruits, nuts and berries to small mammals, amphibians and birds.

Asian black bears are still hunted throughout their Asian habitat by humans, for fur and medicinal purposes. Asian black bears are feared by most humans due to their aggressive nature, meaning that little effort is being made to conserve them as a species. Sadly, if this rate of hunting continues, the Asian black bear will soon become extinct.
The Asian black bear is also commonly known as the Tibetan black bear or the Himalayan black bear, due to the region from which it comes. The Asian black bear is believed to be closely related to the American black bear through their ancestors that roamed the forests in Europe before these bears were exterminated by humans.

Asian black bears can grow to nearly two meters tall, although many Asian black bear individuals are smaller in size than this. The male Asian black bears are usually bigger than the female Asian black bears, with male Asian black bears often being double the size of the female Asian black bear.

The Asian black bear is often referred to as the moon bear, mainly due to the crescent-shaped white patch on the Asian black bears chest. The Asian black bear also has sharp-claws which the Asian black bear uses to assist the Asian black bear in climbing trees to reach fruit and berries.

The breeding time for Asian black bears is in late summer, from June to October, and on an average two cubs are born per litter. The Asian black bear is able to reproduce at an age of 3 to 4 years, while the total gestation period takes 7 to 8 months.