The Bear Line

There are eight living species of bear today, all of which can be seen, with varying degrees of commonality, in zoos around the world.   When I was a child, I could see six of the eight within a single morning on a trip to my local zoo, all within a hundred yards of each other.  With my feet planted on one spot, it was sometimes possible to see three or four without moving my head.

Let's meet the cast:

Brown Bear: "The Archetypal Bear."  This is the bear that everyone usually thinks of first when they think of bears.  It's image is so tied to bears that the scientific name literally translates to "Bear, bear."  It's the species of bear that ours has the longest history with, dating back to prehistoric times.  Within recent centuries, its range stretched from Mexico to Morocco, Ireland to Japan.  Across this range, it was broken into several subspecies, from the tiny brown bears of the Syrian desert to the hulking behemoths of Kodiak Island.  Among these is Ursus arctos horribilis, the bear we call the grizzly.

American Black Bear: "The Common Bear."  This bear, found over North America, is the most common of the world's bears and is actually on something of a rebound.  It's numbers are expanding in many areas, and is the bear that many Americans are most likely to encounter.  While smaller than the brown bear where their ranges overlap, it can still be an impressively large animal.  Despite the name, black bears aren't always black.  Some are cinnamon red, or glacial blue, or brown (but still aren't "brown bears").  One population in British Columbia is even a ghostly white.

Polar Bear: "The Marine Bear."  Sitting on top of the world, the polar bear is the only bear that the US government classifies as a marine mammal.  On average it is the biggest of bears, though the Kodiak subspecies of brown bear can be bigger.  In recent years, the polar bear has become best known to us as a symbol of global climate change and the poster-species for fighting global warming.

Asian Black Bear: "The Moon Bear."  This bear is, in many ways, the Asian answer to the American black bear, though it is rarer and much less-studied.  At a quick glance, the two look alike, but the Asian black bear has a shaggy mane and bigger ears.  It also usually has a white crescent of fur on its chest, for which it receives the nickname of "moon bear."  Confusingly enough, many other bear species can also sometimes bear this marking.

Sloth Bear: "The Termite Bear."  This South Asian bear looks so strange that European explorers weren't sure if it was a sloth-like bear or a bear-like sloth.   In a family of generalist feeders, the sloth bear is an odd creature, specializing on eating termites - perhaps it would be better named the anteater bear.  Despite its relatively small size and insectivorous diet, this bear has a reputation of being one of the most aggressive of bears and, in its range, is feared more than the tiger by some.

Sun Bear: "The Honey Bear."  This is the smallest of the bears, and (while most bears do climb) the most arboreal.  It resembles a giant pug dog more than a bear, and in some ways acts more like a monkey, spending all day climbing the trees collecting fruits.  The name comes from the beautiful golden crescent splashed across its chest, resembling the rising sun.

Andean (Spectacled) Bear: "The South American Bear."  The only bear found south of the equator, this is the last remnant of a now-extinct lineage of bears that once roamed the Americas - the short-faced bears.  This species diverged long ago from the previous six and is not as closely related.  This bear is named both for its range in the Andes Mountains, as well as for the facial markings, a cream colored pair of circles around the eyes that resemble spectacles.  

Giant Panda: "The Bamboo Bear."  Perhaps you could call this "the unbear" as well.  It's so different from the other bears that for decades scientists weren't sure if it even was a bear.  Even more of an outlier among the bears in terms of diet than the sloth bear, the giant panda almost exclusively eats bamboo.  Although it is today one of the most famous and recognizable of all animals in the world - the endangered species to many people - it was only known outside of its native range for less than two hundred years.