Bears are an important part of India’s ecological role in our environment and diverse wildlife. They help clean up carcasses and play a huge role in the seed dispersal of many fruit-bearing plants.
Out of the 8 species in the world, four species of bears are found in India, those are;
- Himalayan Brown Bear: Ursus arctos isabellinus,
- Himalayan Black Bear: Ursus thibetanus,
- Sun Bear: Ursus malayanus and
- Sloth Bear: Melursinus ursinus.
Himalayan Brown Bear
The Himalayan brown bear is found in the Himalayan regions of the Indian subcontinent. These bears occur in low densities ranging from subalpine and alpine regions (3,000-5,000 m) in the Greater Himalayas and in some parts of trans-Himalayan regions in India. In India, it occurs in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. These have large thick fur which is sandy or reddish-brown in colour. These bears are omnivores, feeding on grass, rottes, plants, and small animals. They also prefer fruits and berries. Sometimes their prey can also include sheep and goats.
Asiatic Black Bears
Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears, are found in the forests of the Himalayas and North-eastern India. They are distinguished by their black fur, a distinctive white V-shaped mark on their chests, and their large ears. They are omnivorous and feed on a variety of food items including fruits, insects, small mammals, and occasionally carrion. These can also climb effectively with broken hind legs. In autumn they fatten up for the winter by feeding on nuts. In northern climates they hibernate. In southern climates, they do not hibernate.
Sun Bears
Sun bears get their name from the characteristic orange to cream coloured chest patch. Its unique morphology, inward-turned front feet, flattened chest, and powerful forelimbs with large claws suggest adaptations for climbing. Sun bears are shy and retiring but quite intelligent. They have a broad diet including ants, bees, beetles, honey, termites, and plant material such as seeds and several kinds of fruits; vertebrates such as birds and deer are also eaten occasionally.
These have a Body length of 120-150cm, the Male weighs around 27-65 kg, and the Female weighs around 27-50kg. They are the smallest species of bear. Relatively (to their size), they have the largest canines of all the bear species. Canine teeth are specialized for tearing meat, but sun bears are not particularly carnivorous. They may use their sharp canines as weapons or as tools for tearing at trees to get at insects
Sloth Bear
Sloth bears are found in the and are widely distributed from the foothills of the Himalayas to the southern tip of the Indian peninsula of and are known for their distinctive long, shaggy coats and their habit of feeding on insects. They are also known for their strong jaws and sharp claws, which they use to break open termite mounds and ant nests. These have a Body length of 140-190cm, Male weighs around 80-140 kg, and Female weighs around 55-95kg. These shaggy-haired bears can be heard sucking up termites a long distance away
The approximate distribution range of the Asiatic black bear, brown bear, sloth bear, and sun bears in India is based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The Asiatic Black bear is now labeled as Endangered by IUCN Red List, CITES, Appendix
How prevalent is the illegal trade of bears in India?
A poaching incident is when a bear is found dead either in traps, or electrocuted, or killed by other anthropogenic means, with or without body parts removed. The removal of body parts suggests that there is a demand and trade in such commodities, it remains unclear whether this feeds a local demand and/or an international market.
There many such poaching/killing of bears reported in India for their body parts, skins as hunting trophies, and bear paws, meat, claws, and fat are being traded worldwide from India to Southeast Asian countries, and the greatest demand for bear bile (which is commonly used in traditional Asian medicine for the treatment of liver and gall bladder conditions). Sloth bears were earlier often captured from the wild and traded for the cruel practice of Dancing Bears. Fortunately this has been eradicated.
Poaching, smuggling, and trade of all four-bear species and their body parts is prohibited under India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Their commercial international trade is also banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) as all species from India are listed in Appendix I.
What about human bear conflict?
Throughout the range of bears in Asia, there are a combination of threats – loss of suitable habitat, increasing human-bear conflict, and illegal wildlife trade – pushing bear populations towards extinction. Illegal hunting for body parts (claws), gall bladder, paws, canines, skulls, and skin poses the main threat, together with habitat loss caused by logging, and expansion of human settlements and roads also causing human-bear conflict. These are pushing the bear population to extinction.
Sloth bears are perceived as a significant threat as conflict cases cause serious human injury or death that has adverse impacts on a family’s livelihood. There have been growing levels of human-bear conflict in India due to the loss of suitable habitat and increasing human encroachment into forested areas and it is suspected that this conflict may be resulting in rising poaching levels.
Efforts should be made to conserve India’s bear populations, including the creation of protected areas and community-based conservation programs. In some parts of India, bear sanctuaries have been established where injured or orphaned bears are cared for and rehabilitated before being released back into the wild.
What measures should be taken to protect bears in India?
Critical bear habitats must be preserved, greater efforts are also needed to reduce human-bear conflict and the threat of illegal trade. To the number of reported poaching and seizure incidents in India, law enforcement should make efforts to enhance and include intelligence-led investigations and cross-border cooperation between enforcement agencies to target buyers and traders. Government authorities and conservation organizations should continue monitoring the trade in bear parts on a national scale, to support action-oriented strategies and effective law enforcement interventions regularly.
Habitat modeling can also be done which would help in understanding complex associations between species and an array of environmental, bioclimatic, and anthropogenic factors, and this method examines how habitat models have been employed, and the functionality of their predictions for management and conservation.
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Written by: Dharmik BSMS
References
- Status and Management of Asiatic Black Bear and Himalayan Black bear in India by Sambandam Sathyakumar, Wildlife Institute of India. Ursus Vol. 12 (2001), pp. 21-29 (9 pages) Published By: International Association for Bear Research and Management.
- Gomez, L., Wright, B., Shepherd, C. R., & Joseph, T. (2021). An analysis of the illegal bear trade in India. Global Ecology and Conservation, 27, e01552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01552
- Bear necessities: Call to stop poaching and illegal trade of bears in (n.d.). https://www.wwfindia.org/?18941/Bear-necessities-Call-to-stop-poaching-and-illegal-trade-of-bears-in-India
- Scotson, L., Ross, S., & Arnold, T. W. (2019). Monitoring sun bears and Asiatic black bears with remotely sensed predictors to inform conservation management. Oryx, 55(1), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605318001187
- Lariviere, S. H. J. S. (1999, May 4). Bear | Types, Habitat, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/animal/bear
- Asiatic Black Bear. (n.d.). WWF. https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/wildlife_practice/profiles/mammals/asiatic_black_bear/