Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus

Vulnerable

Extant (resident)

India; Nepal; Sri Lanka

Extinct

Bangladesh

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), with its distinctive “Y” or “V” shaped chest patch and shaggy fur, is a unique bear native to the Indian subcontinent. Once exploited as dancing bears by the Kalandar tribe, this phase of history is thankfully now over. They now roam across tropical forests and savannahs while snuffling through termite mounds and sucking up ants and honey. Tragically, these bears face severe threats from palm oil deforestation, human-wildlife conflict, and poaching. You can fight for their survival by saying no to palm oil. Use your wallet as a weapon to make a difference! #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Sloth #bears are nurturing parents with shaggy fur and unique chest markings. Living throughout #India they’re now #vulnerable from #poaching and #palmoil #deforestation Help them survive each time you shop #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7PU

Share to Twitter

Once exploited as ‘dancing bears’, Sloth #Bears of #India are now vulnerable from #palmoil #deforestation, poaching and human persecution. You can fight for them by using your wallet #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://wp.me/pcFhgU-7PU

Share to Twitter

https://youtu.be/qSK2T-YybDk

Appearance & Behaviour

The Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus is native to the Indian subcontinent. They are distinctive for their long, shaggy fur which gives them a dishevelled appearance; along with unique “Y” or “V” shaped chest patches that are akin to fingerprints. They have large, sickle-shaped claws and a protruding lower lip, perfectly adapted for their termite-hunting lifestyle. They are medium-sized bears with males averaging between 80-145 kg and females between 55-105 kg. Known for their slow, shambling walk and loud snuffling sounds, they are often encountered in pairs, with males being gentle with their cubs.

• Specialised for eating insects: Their long lower lip and palate help them efficiently suck up insects.
• A keen nose for sweets: Exceptionally fond of honey and jackfruit, they regurgitate these and other delicacies for their cubs.
• Tragic ‘Dancing Bear’ legacy now thankfully over: Once used as dancing bears by the Kalandar tribe, this horrific practice has been largely eradicated through concerted rescue efforts by Wildlife SOS, International Animal Rescue, and Free the Bears .

Support the conservation and protection of these bears by refusing to buy products sourced from illegal wildlife trade or deforested areas. Fight for their future with mindful shopping practices and help them by being vegan and #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket!

Threats

• Habitat Degradation and Deforestation: Human activity, including logging and agriculture, severely reduces their habitat.
• Human Encroachment: Growing populations of these bears lead to increased conflict with humans, as they search for food in human settlements.
• Illegal Wildlife Trade: Despite being protected by law, poaching continues for their body parts.

Conservation groups work to protect their future by safeguarding forests and offering alternative livelihoods to those who once exploited these animals. You can help them! Use your wallet as a weapon, ensure you do not buy bear or animal related wildlife products and boycott palm oil in the supermarket #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife

Habitat

Their primary habitats include tropical forests, savannahs, and grasslands across India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. They prefer lowland areas below 1,500 m in India and 300 m in Sri Lanka. Sadly, they are extinct in Bangladesh.

Diet

Sloth bears have a highly specialised diet focused on ants, termites, and honey. They also consume a variety of fruits, particularly jackfruit and the petals of mowha trees. They use their long sickle-shaped claws to break open termite mounds and then suck up the insects.

Mating and breeding

Sloth bears breed during the spring and early summer, giving birth in caves or under boulders at the start of winter. Cubs are born blind and ride on their mother’s back until they reach a third of her size. Litters typically include 1-2 cubs, sometimes up to three.

Support Indian Sloth Bears by going vegan and boycotting palm oil in the supermarket, it’s the #Boycott4Wildlife

Support the conservation of this species

This animal has no protections in place. Read about other forgotten species here. Create art to support this forgotten animal or raise awareness about them by sharing this post and using the #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife hashtags on social media. Also you can boycott palm oil in the supermarket.

Further Information

Free the Bears. (n.d.). India’s Sloth Bears. https://freethebears.org/pages/indian-sloth-bears

IUCN. (n.d.). Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13143/166519315#threats

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Sloth bear. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_bear

How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?

Take Action in Five Ways

1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Mail
• Mastodon

Sign Up

2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez in His Own Words

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and author of ‘In the Shadow of the Palms’ Dr Sophie Chao: In Her Own Words

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen: In His Own Words

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20

https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20

https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

Global
South America
S.E. Asia
India
Africa
West Papua & PNG

Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis umbrosa

Keep reading

Phayre’s Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus phayrei

Keep reading

Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea

Keep reading

Solomon Islands skink Corucia zebrata

Keep reading

Andean Mountain Cat Leopardus jacobita

Keep reading

Irrawaddy Dolphin Orcaella brevirostris

Keep reading

Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

Lying
Fake labels
Indigenous Land-grabbing
Human rights abuses
Deforestation
Human health hazards

A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

Read more

#animals #Bear #bears #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #deforestation #ForgottenAnimals #hunting #India #Mammal #Nepal #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #poaching #SlothBearMelursusUrsinus #SriLanka #vulnerable #VulnerableSpecies

"Climate change could cause 'generational trauma' in great apes"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/apes-climate-change-impacts-1.7127745

<💬>
"They're facing a lot of threats that are much more imminent than climate change," said Stefanie Heinicke, a postdoctoral researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
</💬>

<💬>
"What you see, as a result of humans then trying to survive in these desperate circumstances, is that they turn to the forest for resources," Kalan said, describing it as a source of food and fuel such as charcoal.
</💬>

...

Paper here: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000345

<💬>
For the first time, we showed that African ape sites have already experienced changes in climatic conditions and are likely to be exposed to extreme events in the future. We found that temperatures have increased over the past decades at the majority of ape sites, and in line with a previous study [14], we found a consistent increase in future temperatures. Bonobo sites covered the narrowest temperature range, which indicates a potentially lower physiological tolerance that might make bonobos more sensitive to climate change impacts [65]. We also showed that the majority of ape sites will be exposed to a high frequency of heatwaves. It has been shown that chimpanzees occurring in an area with high temperatures experience heat stress [18]. The impact of heatwaves on primates has not yet been studied, but high mortality of humans during heatwaves [35] and mass die-offs for some taxa (e.g., flying foxes [36]) have been observed. Thus, given the projected prevalence of heatwaves across ape sites, there is a need to understand sensitivity of apes to this extreme event. Thermoregulation behaviours have already been observed in apes (e.g., higher drinking frequency, nocturnal behaviour, sitting in caves and pools [18–20]). Though the behavioural flexibility of apes allows them to adapt to higher temperatures to some degree, these behaviours have only been observed for a few study sites, and it is not known how effective these adaptation strategies are, given, for example, that apes compete for access to standing water sources with humans and their livestock in dry habitats. In addition, these adaptive behaviours entail trade-offs, such as less time for feeding, or increased predation pressure at night. When more energy is used for thermoregulation this can reduce other physiological processes such as reduced functionality of the immune system, as observed for birds [22]. Behavioural and physiological trade-offs can result in a decline of body condition, as well as lower survival and fertility (Table 2).
</💬>

#ClimateChange #apes #extinction #deforestation #hunting