Malayan sun bear

Malayan Sun Bear
Malayan sun bear
Photo by Chuck Dresner
Malayan sun bear
Photo by John Storjohann ...

Malayan sun bear
Helarctos malayanus
Sun bears are native to tropical and subtropical forests of South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, Laos, the Malay Peninsula, Myanmar, Sumatra, Thailand, Vietnam and possibly southern China.

The Malayan Sun Bear
Sun bears are smaller than other bears.

They spend a lot of time in trees.
...

The Malayan Sun Bear has got a short black fur. Some species have yellowish spot on their chest. From the anatomical point of view, it is the smallest bear in the world measuring only about 4-5 feet in length while females are even smaller.

Lincoln Park Zoo cooperatively manages Malayan sun bear populations with other institutions in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Habitat ...

Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)
Binturong (Arctictis binturong)
Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis)
Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor)
Pygmy loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus)
Dalbergia (Dalbergia glomerata)
Dalbergia (Dalbergia aurea) ...

Malayan sun bears sometimes cause a great deal of damage to coconut palms and on cocoa plantations.

The IUCN ranks Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) as data deficient, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) as lower risk, Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus), sloth bears (Melursus ursinus), and spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus) as vulnerable, ...

Found from southern China to eastern India and as far south as Indonesia, sun bears, also called Malayan sun bears, take their name from the bib-shaped golden or white patch on their chest, which legend says represents the rising sun.

- When Sun Bear Forest opened at the San Diego Zoo in 1989, five young Malayan sun bears quickly, and with great glee, tore up their new home, ripping out grass, trees, and anything else they could find.

See also: Sun bear, Bear, Owl, Sea Lion, Spectacled bear