
Sloth bear facts for kids
Sloth Bear Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene – Recent |
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Sloth Bear | |
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Ursidae |
Genus: | Melursus |
Species: | M. ursinus |
Binomial name | |
Melursus ursinus (Shaw, 1791) |
The Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) is a bear that lives in India and Sri Lanka.
Appearance
Sloth Bears have long and shaggy black fur, but its fur can also be brown. On its chest it has a white or yellow mark, which is shaped like an Y or V. They have big feet with long claws. The long claws are also the reason for its English name, because the claws look like the claws of a Sloth.
Life
Sloth Bears eat insects, like for example termites. But they also eat fruit, honey, eggs, and also meat.
Female Sloth Bears usually have 1-2 babies, sometimes 3. Young Sloth Bears stay with their mother for 2-3 years. In captivity they can live to be 40 years old.
Sloth bear adults can weigh anywhere from 120-130 pounds and measure anywhere form 60-70 inches in length.
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Wikispecies has information on: Sloth Bear. |
Images for kids

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Sloth bear Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.