Sun Bear
Ursus malayanus
3.35468, 117.597
Field Notes
Description:
The sun bear's fur is jet-black, short and sleek with some underwool. There are two whirls on the shoulders, from where the hair radiates in all directions. There is a crest on the sides of the neck and a whorl in the centre of the breast patch. There is always a more or less crescent-shaped pale patch on the breast that varies individually in colour ranging from buff, cream or dirty white to ochreous. The skin is naked on the upper lip. The tongue is long and protrusible. The ears are small and rounded, broad at the base and capable of very little movement. The front legs are somewhat bowed with the paws turned inwards, and the claws are black.
Habitat:
Sun bears are found in the tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia ranging from north-eastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam to southern Yunnan Province in China, and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They now occur very patchily through much of their former range, and have been extirpated from many areas, especially in mainland Southeast Asia.
Notes:
Spotted in a zoo in Borneo.
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