The+Asiatic+Black+Bear

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The Asiatic Black Bear (//Ursus thibetanus//) is the third smallest bear species in the world. This black bear with brown ears and nose is also known as Moon Bear because of the big white crescent moon shape in its chest. Asiatic Black Bears live approximately 25 years.=====

Habitat
Moon bear lives in Asia and the area where it is met has split in two pieces. The first one is from Afganistan and Pakistan to the northern India and Nepal and to Myanmar, Thailand, Kambodia and Vietnam. The second area of appearance is from northeast China to southern Russia, Taiwan and some parts of Japan. Mostly bears live in deciduous forests that cover mountain roots. Moon bears are with status "vulnerable" on IUCN Red List of Endangered species and they are threatened in almost every country they live in.

[[image:http://www.theanimalfiles.com/images/asiatic_black_bear_range.jpg align="left"]]
http://www.theanimalfiles.com/images/asiatic_black_bear_range.jpg

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The Asiatic Black Bear weighs about 100-200 kilograms and it is mainly herbivorous. Bamboos, nuts, fruits and other kinds of plants are what bear´s diet mostly consists of. Bears also eat insects, little animals and corpses and rob beahives. Because Moon bears of north do sleep in wintertime, they need to eat food with lots of fat, for example seeds of cedar, pine and beech. Also walnuts consist a lot of fat and carbohydrates.=====

[[image:http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpr9TnpQgVvz85vQqrDslEXvbUTHNB4Df8bTq8Ie4hNg34MZ-h]]
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Asiatic Black Bears breed for the first time usually at the age of 3 to 4 years. They pair up usually during the summer time, in Russia it occurs in June and July, but it has been reported that in Pakistan the mating takes place in October. Depending on the time of breeding the cubs are born between December and March. The mother bear gives birth to 1-4 cubs and they are born blind and helpless.=====

[[image:Asiatic-black-bear_1386400i.jpg width="304" height="189"]]
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Asiatic Black Bear suffers from habitat loss as forests are cut down. In Pakistan it is still common that people capture bears for use as performing animals. These bears are taught to dance and wrestle. Moon Bear is also a favored species for speciality cuisine, such as bear-paw soup, and for traditional Chinese medicine. In China, North Korea and Japan this has lead to bear “farms” where the bears live in small cages and their bile is drained for medical purposes. At least 10 000 Asiatic Black Bears have died on these farms. Moon Bear is the only native bear in South Korea and it already has become extinct there. Nowadays, Korean tourists holiday in Thailand to enjoy bear meat and bear-paw soup.=====

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Bears are protected by law for example in Thailand but even in national parks that are founded in order to preserve species happens poaching. Bear killers are usually villagers who live near the park and they sell their booty to black market. It´s very hard to do anything to this illegal business because it is legal to sell bear parts that are from countries where Moon bears are not protected. All the byrocracy is also a big problem.=====

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In Kyushu island, Japan, Moon Bear became extinct in the fifties but it still lives in Honshu and Shikoku islands. Nevertheless, humans legally hunt Moon bears as game animals. Yet another problem in Japan is that once the natural forests are removed, the cedar and cypress plantations become sources of food. After that, Asiatic Black Bears are considered as pests.=====

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===== [|http://www.davidshepherd.org] [|http://www.factsandetails.com]

__ Summary __
 * =====Names===== || =====Ursus Thibetanus, Asiatic Black Bear, Moon Bear, White-chested Bear===== ||
 * =====Where===== || =====Afganistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam===== ||
 * =====Age===== || =====25 years===== ||
 * =====Weight===== || =====100-200 kilograms===== ||
 * =====Threats===== || =====Habitat loss, bear farms, hunting, a favored species for cuisine and traditional medicine===== ||
 * =====Eats===== || =====Mainly herbivorous: bamboos, nuts, fruits and other kind of plants. Also insects, little animals, corpses, robs beahives. Hibernating bears: seeds of cedar, pine and beech, walnuts===== ||

Sources: Bieder, Robert E., Bear, Reaktion Books, 2005 Internet: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/10.shtml http://www.bearbiology.com/index.php?id=36 http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/1999/2/bearconservationworld.cfm [] Anni, Anna R., Sointu

