Sun bear

The head and neck are short and round. The nose and the upper lip near it are completely naked, and there is no clear dividing line between the nose tip and the hair area behind it. The eyes and ears are small, and the tail is short. The limbs are strong and robust. Each front and rear foot has 5 toes. The front paws are longer than the hind paws. The soles of the feet are thick and hairless. The palm pads are connected to the two extended wrist pads (front feet) or the large tarsal pads (hind feet) to form a whole piece. The bases of the finger processes or toe processes are connected by short webs, so the finger processes or toe processes are more flexible than those of other bears. The female has two pairs of nipples on the abdomen, and the front pair is well developed and as big as a date. The hair is short and sparse. In summer, the back hair is only 14 mm long, gradually shortening forward, and the hair length near the nose tip is less than 5 mm. There are two symmetrical hair wh

Sun bears are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia and South Asia. Historically, they were distributed in Sichuan, northwest and south Yunnan, and southeast Tibet in China; extending to Indochina, Sumatra, and Borneo.
Existing: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam.
Extinct: Singapore.
Uncertain existence: China.
Sun bears are typical forest-dwelling animals, mainly living in dense tropical and subtropical rainforests and evergreen broad-leaved forests at an altitude of 0-1350 meters. Sun bears mainly move in primary forests, and the species will not be found in habitats that have been damaged (such as logging). However, there are also reports that Sun bears live in coconut plantations, lowland mountains, and swamp forests up to 2,400 meters above sea level.

The Latin name of the Sun Bear is Helarctos malayanus. It has two subspecies (the Bornean Sun Bear and the Nominal Sun Bear). It is the smallest bear in the world.

Malayan bears have a strange feature, which is their long tongues. Their tongues can be as long as 20-30 cm. As long as it is for the convenience of hunting, such as some ants and hornets' nests, the long tongue can quickly eat things.

The main threat to the survival of the sun bear is still human activities, including habitat loss caused by deforestation. The habitat of the sun bear ranges from India to Indonesia, but due to deforestation and poaching in Southeast Asia, the world's smallest bear is facing extinction. In addition, Eastern medicine believes that the green bile of the sun bear can be used to treat eye, liver and other diseases, and bear paws are considered a delicacy on the table, so sun bears are often poached.

In 1972 and 1973, the Malayan sun bear was listed as a protected species in Malaysia and Indonesia; in 1989, it was listed as a first-class protected animal in China; listed in the "China Species Red List" (1996), with an assessment level of endangered species (EN); listed in Appendix I of the 2019 edition of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); listed in the 2016 ver 3.1 of the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) - vulnerable species (VU). Listed in the first level of China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021 [7]).

Protect wild animals and stop eating game.

Maintaining ecological balance is everyone's responsibility!