Sun Bear

Sun bear, also known as the bruang or the honey bear. They are also named  Malayan sun bear. Sun bears are the smallest bear species, also they are the smallest member of the Ursidae family. They live in the south-eastern part of the Asian forest. 

In this study, we will learn about this bear species – Sun Bear. We will know about its characteristics, habitat, behavior, and extinction rate. In the same context, we will share some interesting facts about the Sun bear which certainly you have never heard before. Without further ado, let us start off. 

Smallest Bear – Sun Bear

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Sun Bear, also known as Malayan Sun bear is the smallest bear in the bear family. They are found in Southeast Asian forests. This bear (also known as Helarctos, or Ursus, malayanus) can be often tamed as a pet animal while they are young, but when they grow, they become bad-tempered and dangerous adults animal. 

Smart but Shy

Generally, Sun bears are nocturnal animals, they climb trees in the broad daylight and come down in the dark. They are of a shy and retiring nature but at the same time, they are quite intelligent too. You can spot a sun bear by checking its black coat (often including its muzzle and feet) contrast with its black coat of short, coarse fur.

Characteristics

Why the Name ‘Sun’ Bear?

Sun bears are found in the southern parts of China to the eastern part of India and as far south as in Indonesia. Sun Bears take their name from the bib-shaped golden or white patch on their chest, and hence the local people say that the sun bear represents the rising sun. The sun bears have a stocky, muscular build with small ears and a short muzzle. They have earned the nickname of a “dog bear.” 

Sun Bears have sleek, black coats, this is to avoid overheating in the tropical weather but their thick and coarse fur is built up to provide protection from the twigs, branches, and rain in the forest.

What Suits their Swinging From one Branch to Another?

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A Sun bear generally grows to only about half the size of an American black bear. Males are slightly larger than females. They are about 5 feet in length and they weigh up to 150 pounds, this typical weight suits their arboreal lifestyle and allows them to move easily, swing through the trees and their branches. It is observed that they make their sleeping platforms high above the ground out of the branches and the leaves.

Weight of a Sun bear

A sun bear weighs only 27–65 kg (59–143 pounds) (on average) and grows to about 1–1.2 m (3.3–4 feet) long with a 5-centimeter (2-inch) tail (on average). Its large forepaws which are like bear long, curved claws, this is used for tearing or digging their search for insect nests and ant colonies, particularly those of the bees and other termites. Other items of their omnivorous diet include - fruit, honey, and small vertebrates.

Physical Description of a Sun Bear

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The Physical Description of the sun bear is numbered as follows for quick learning:

• You can spot a sun bear easily as they can be clearly distinguished from other bears, they have a white or yellowish patch on the chest, which is similar to a sun rising.

• Sun bears are excellent climbers and they spend enough time in trees. 

• The bears feed on sweet fruits, small rodents, birds, small insects, and termites.

• They have short, wide, flat heads with their small round ears. 

• Their fur is quite coarse but appears to be sleek. 

• Their furry coat is entirely black except for the "U" shaped patch on the chest with a grey to faintly orange muzzle. 

• The U-mark may exaggerate the bears' sizes during their fights. 

• The baby sun bear is born with soft and shiny coats. 

• Their paws are quite large with sickle-shaped claws and with naked soles which are helpful in climbing trees. 

• Sun bears walk with all four legs.

To Sum Up in a Chart 

Honey Bear Feeding on honey and other feeds

Sun Bear Diet

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Sun bears are nocturnal animals. They lumber around in forests by night, snacking on fruits, in search of berries, roots, maybe insects, small birds, lizards, and even rodents. Sun bears have an excellent sense of smell and they have extremely long claws which exceed four inches in length, they use their long claws to rip apart trees and search for termite and nests. They also have an almost comically long tongue for extracting honey from bee nests, giving them their other nickname, “honey bear.”

Baby Bears- Sun Cubs

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Little sun bears are known for their social life. In evidence, it is justified that sun bear cubs are monogamous. Mother bears, who are known as sows, make ground nests, and then she gives birth to her little ones. It can be one- or two-blind baby bears, they weigh approximately 11 ounces. Mother sun bears are observed cradling their cub in their arms while they walk on their hind legs, this is a rare trait among the bears. Cubs start moving after about two months and they are weaned by four months, but they remain under the care of their mothers for about two years or more than that.

Sun Bear Habitat

Sun bears thrive in the Southeast Asian tropical forests. In these forests, there is tropical evergreen rainforest vegetation. They are montane forests with swamp habitats.

Taxonomy Classification of Sun bear

• Kingdom – Animalia 

• Subkingdom – Bilateria

• Infrakingdom – Deuterostomia

• Phylum – Chordata

• Subphylum – Vertebrata

• Infraphylum – Gnathostomata

• Superclass – Tetrapoda

• Class – Mammalia

• Subclass – Theria

• Order – Carnivora

• Suborder – Caniformia

• Family – Ursidae

• Genus – Helarctos

• Species – Helarctos Malayanus (Malayan Sun Bear)

• Subspecies – Helarctos malayanus. 

In Which Countries Sun Bear is Found?

Sun Bear is mainly found in these countries:

• Bangladesh

• Brunei Darussalam

• Cambodia

• China

• India

• Indonesia

• Lao People's Democratic Republic 

• Malaysia 

• Myanmar

• Thailand

• Viet Nam

Geographic Residence of Sun Bears

Sun bears occur in the mainland of Southeast Asia; it extends as far as in the west in Bangladesh and in north-eastern India (that is in Chauhan in the year 2006). Their residence also extends as far north in the southern Yunnan Province of China, and in the south and east to Sumatra and Borneo, respectively. Sun bears are also found at times in their former range, while they have been completely eradicated in many areas, this is especially eradicated in the mainland of southeast Asia. Its current distribution is in eastern Myanmar and most of Yunnan is unknown here. The reports of sun bear that formerly occupied Nepal appear to be erroneous. The Sun bear fossils from the Pleistocene are found much further north into China and on the island of Java, but sun bears did not occur in historical times. 

Sun bears are uncommon in northern and in the western edges of their own range (this is in the southern Yunnan province, in south-eastern Tibet, in northeast India, and in Bangladesh; (Chauhan in the year 2006, Gong and Harris in the year 2006); this is lower in abundance which was apparent in the historical times (e.g., in India; Higgins 1932) so is probably a natural gradient which is unrelated to the human exploitation. 

What is the Lifespan of these Sun Bears?

The sun bears who are staying in captivity live up to 24 years and for nine months(minimum). While the average lifespan is 35.9 years. 

How is their Behaviour Type?

The Sun bears are active during the night times and they are excellent and agile climbers. They sleep and sunbathe in the trees at heights from around 2 to 7 m. These bear species do not go through periods of hibernation, because they live in tropical areas and their food sources are present year-round.

Their Key Behaviour types are:

• scansorial 

• terricolous 

• nocturnal

• motile

• sedentary

• solitary

Sun Bears with Human Beings

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We, humans, exploit sun bears ruthlessly. The gallbladders and other body parts of sun bears are used in folk medical practices and have even been proven that they have no medicinal value. People hunt sun bears for sport and profit. They are even sold as pets when they are cubs.

So, for the Positive Impacts the sun bears are used for:

• Pet trade 

• Source of Medicine

• Helps in controlling the pest population

Apart from this, the Sun bears cause damage to human beings by destroying their cash crops such as oil palms, coconuts, and bananas.

Are They on the Verge of Extinction?

The Sun Bear is mainly found in the lowland forests of South East Asia. However, the bears mostly disappeared in the recent decades from their former ranges. However, Sun Bear is still found in the protected areas of Cambodia's Mondolkiri province and in Virachey National Park. It is estimated that the population of sun bears has fallen by more than 30% in the past 30 years.

Acting Ruthless Against the Sun Bears

The sun bears stay in remote habitats and also, they have a shy personality, thus gathering conservation data on these sun bears is quite difficult, but the scientists researching on these bears fear for the worst – 

• their homelands are being lost rapidly due to deforestation

• the poachers hunt them mercilessly for their body parts and for their fur

• Some farmers kill them on-site as they eat their crops such as oil palm, coconuts, and bananas. 

• Even more merciless is that the adult females are frequently killed so that their cubs can be taken and raised as pets in the households.

Main Threats 

Like other bears who are thriving in Asia, these Sun bears are being hunted for their gallbladders and for other body parts which are used for medicinal uses though they are proven by scientists to have no medical value at all. Also, the female sun bears are killed and their cubs are captured to be sold in the pet trade.

Threat Information on Sun Bears 

The Two Major Threats to Sun Bears are:

• Loss of their habitat as now forests are cut down 

• Commercial Hunting 

In areas where deforestation is actively occurring, the sun bears are mainly threatened by the loss of their forest habitat and degradation of forest that arises from the clear-cutting of plantation development and unsustainable logging practices. These threats are prevalent in Indonesia and in Malaysia on the islands of Sumatra and in the islands of Borneo of Sundaland as well. 

Conservation Measures to be Initiated

• The killing of sun bears is strictly prohibited under the national wildlife protection laws throughout their range. However, there is no evidence of strictly enforcing these laws. 

• The Conservation measures and the priorities will vary from country to country. None of these countries has established specific conservation measures for the sun bears. 

• The general measures to reduce forest loss and poaching would help conserve these species. 

• The most beneficial conservation measures done in Indonesia and in Malaysia would be the protection of the remaining forests from the conversion to other land-uses, also eliminating unsustainable logging practices, and prevention of forest fires.

• They must incorporate new and effectively managed protected areas in the countries of Indonesia and Malaysia that are to be promoted mostly. Also, this is to be minded that patrolling and monitoring the entire protected areas is currently an overwhelming task. 

• To make this problem seamless and manageable, a network of small bear recovery zones (which is 100–200 km2) is to be established within the key protected areas. After which the patrolling efforts of rangers will then be focused on these zones. 

• The Recovery zones should consist of plentiful bear foods such as trees from the families Lauraceae, Moraceae, Burseraceae, Myrtaceae, and Fagaceae. 

• These types of zones would provide a biologically meaningful, geographically focused, 6 and logistically realistic way for the efforts of these protected area staff to be translated into the population recovery for bears (and other wildlife species).

Did You Know?

• Seventy-five percent of bear species are threatened with extinction. The world’s smallest species of bear, known as ‘the sun bear’ (also known as Helarctos malayanus), has been classed as a Vulnerable Species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

• The sun bears have an orange-yellow-colored chest crescent which according to the local people represents the rising sun.  

• The sun bear is the smallest of all bears, they are arboreal and the least studied bear. They are the second rarest bear species, the first being the giant panda. 

• Each rising sun marking on the chest of each sun bear is unique. No two markings are exactly the same.

• Sun bears have a very long tongue of about 20 – 25cm. This long tongue helps them to extract honey from the beehives, and thus they earn an alternative name called ‘honey bear’ or ‘beruang' made in Malay and in the Indonesian language.

• Sun bears are characterized as fierce animals, they can attack humans and inflict serious wounds when they encounter them in the forests. In North America, more or less 100 people were killed by grizzly bears in the past 100 years.

Sun bears can now be counted as ‘vulnerable to be an endangered species.’ These smallest bears are one of a kind with their sun-rising mark on their chest, we must all take steps to spread awareness in order to save these precious little lives of these bears. The forest departments and the wildlife activists especially must take this as a crucial note, there should be strict laws regarding the same. While we local people must abide by their laws to save these adorable creatures from extinction.