topic: Bears

topic: Bears

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In 2023, Nepal’s ‘uncelebrated’ wildlife continued wait for attention
- From hispid hares to otters and a critically endangered lizard, Nepal’s lesser-known wild animals live under the shadow of the iconic tiger.
- Officials and conservation stakeholders are yet to come up with concrete plans to save many of these species even as they face the threat of extinction due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
- Other flora and fauna deserve the government’s attention amid these myriad growing threats, researchers told Mongabay in 2023.

No safe space for Nepal’s sloth bears outside protected areas, study finds
- The exploitation of forest resources in Nepal’s Chure region is likely leading to a lack of food for sloth bears in their prime habitat, pushing them into protected areas.
- A camera trap study in the subtropical forests of the Chure region recorded just 46 detections of sloth bears across 30 sites in four months, highlighting the impact of resource extraction on their habitat.
- The study recommends implementing a conservation plan between Parsa National Park and Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve to benefit sloth bears and other threatened species in Nepal’s lowlands.
- It also emphasized the need for action to conserve the eastern Chure forests and the establishment of corridors for sloth bear movement.

Conservationists look to defy gloomy outlook for Borneo’s sun bears
- Sun bears are keystone species, helping sustain healthy tropical forests. Yet they’re facing relentless challenges to their survival from deforestation, habitat degradation, poaching and indiscriminate snaring; fewer than 10,000 are thought to remain across the species’ entire global range.
- A bear rehabilitation program in Malaysian Borneo cares for 44 sun bears rescued from captivity and the pet trade and has been releasing bears back into the wild since 2015. But with threats in the wild continuing unabated, success has been mixed.
- A recent study indicates that as few as half of the released bears are still alive, demonstrating that rehabilitation alone will never be enough to tackle the enormous threats and conservation issues facing the bears in the wild.
- Preventing bears from being poached from the wild in the first place should be the top priority, experts say, calling for a holistic approach centered on livelihood support for local communities through ecotourism to encourage lifestyles that don’t involve setting snares that can kill bears.

Endangered Formosan black bears caught in Taiwanese ‘snaring crisis’ (commentary)
- The snaring of Formosan black bears is a much worse situation than many realize, a new op-ed says.
- This species is endemic to Taiwan and considered endangered, with about 200 to 600 of them left.
- “Do national park and forestry officials have a grasp on just how serious the snaring situation is in this country, of how many snares are out there, who is setting them, and how to combat it?” the op-ed asks.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Barely making it: A conversation with ‘Eight Bears’ author Gloria Dickie
- Gloria Dickie is an award-winning journalist who has documented the state of the world’s eight remaining bear species in a compelling new book, “Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future.”
- Despite the conservation gains made by iconic bear species like the giant panda and the brown bear, most bear species remain at risk.
- In this podcast conversation, the author shares the context behind why some bear species, such as the Andean bear and the polar bear, which face climate-related threats, are much harder to protect.
- “It’s quite tricky for bears threatened by climate change and not just habitat loss,” she says on this episode.

‘We will decide their future’: Q&A with “pro-bear” environmental journalist Gloria Dickie
- Gloria Dickie is an environmental journalist who describes herself as “obviously pro-bear.”
- Over the course of her career, she’s seen how human societies around the world interact differently with the bear species they live alongside, in what can sometimes seem like a “cruel juxtaposition.”
- In her debut book, “Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future,” Dickie explores how each of the world’s eight bear species is a microcosm of a much larger environmental issue.
- From the state-backed conservation of the giant panda to the “pretty much guaranteed” extinction of polar bears, Dickie tells Mongabay readers about these iconic yet so little understood animals.

Learning to live with — and love — bears and eagles in Colombia’s cloud forest
- Human-wildlife conflict is on the rise in the cloud forests of Colombia’s northern Andes, exacerbated by drivers such as deforestation due to the rapid expansion of agriculture.
- Retaliatory killing due to predation of livestock and crop raiding is a major driver of the decline of the black-and-chestnut eagle (Spizaetus isidori) and spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), both of which face their greatest risk of extinction in Colombia.
- In the Western Cordilleras of Colombia’s Antioquia department, a local NGO has been achieving remarkable success in reducing human-wildlife conflict at the local scale through promoting dialogue, inclusion and community participation in conservation efforts.

Montana cannot be trusted with grizzly bear & wolf management (commentary)
- The U.S. State of Montana’s legislature has recently proposed a litany of extreme anti-wildlife bills despite widespread and diverse opposition.
- Grizzly bears are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, but Montana lawmakers and Gov. Greg Gianforte are pushing measures that would issue grizzly bear kill permits to ranchers using public lands, for example.
- The state has also opened up unlimited wolf hunting along Yellowstone National Park’s border, despite the fact that those wolves spend 96% of their time in the park.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Indigenous funding model is a win-win for ecosystems and local economies in Canada
- First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii of Canada, have successfully invested in conservation initiatives that have benefited ecosystems while also increasing communities’ well-being over the past 15 years, a recent report shows.
- Twenty-seven First Nations spent nearly C$109 million ($79 million) toward 439 environmental and economic development projects in their territories, including initiating research, habitat restoration, and guardian programs, that attracted returns worth C$296 million ($214 million).
- Funding has also set up 123 Indigenous-led business and was spent towards sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy projects.
- One of the world’s first project finance for permanence (PFP) models, this funding scheme is exemplary of how stable finance mechanisms can directly benefit Indigenous communities and the environment, say Indigenous leaders.

Of Yetis and extinct turtles: Top wildlife discoveries in Nepal in 2022
- Throughout 2022, Mongabay reported on new species discoveries in Nepal, some of them new to science and others spotted for the first time in the country.
- From busting the Yeti myth to highlighting important biodiversity hotspots in need of conservation, the stories helped bring the Himalayan country’s little-known wildlife to a wider audience.
- These are the top six stories related to important scientific discoveries in Nepal this past year.

It’s no Yeti, but Tibetan brown bear’s presence in Nepal is no longer a myth
- A newly published study is the first to offer clear photographic evidence of the presence of Tibetan brown bears in Nepal.
- The camera-trap images were taken in 2013, but the study around them was only recently published because researcher Madhu Chetri was busy with other studies on snow leopards.
- For Chetri, the photos put to rest folklore he heard from villagers 20 years earlier about a Yeti-like creature prowling Nepal’s Himalayan region.
- Other studies have also shown, through genetic analysis, that hair and other samples attributed to the Yeti come from bears.

How bears “make” a forest (commentary)
- The Andean bear, or ukuku, is the only bear that lives in South America and despite being an elusive species, it has deep spiritual and cultural significance for Andean peoples.
- Enrique G. Ortiz of the Andes Amazon Fund writes about the bear and efforts to conserve it in Peru’s Kosñipata valley, including the recent establishment of the Andean Bear Interpretation Center at Wayqecha Biological Station to raise awareness and appreciation of the species.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.

Enigmatic binturong photographed in Nepal for the first time
- Residents in western Nepal’s Pokhara Valley have captured the first known photos of a binturong, or bearcat (Arctictis binturong), in the country.
- The small cat-like mammal is found across much of East and Southeast Asia, and while eastern Nepal is also considered part of its range, its presence in the country has never been confirmed until now.
- Conservation officials were unable to examine the animal in person because it was released back into the wild by local authorities.
- The binturong is categorized as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with its population thought to have declined by 30% over the past 18 years.

With sea ice melting, glacial ice could be a lifeline for polar bears
- Scientists recently discovered a new subpopulation of polar bears living in southeast Greenland that is genetically and behaviorally distinct.
- While most polar bears depend upon sea ice for survival, the polar bears in Southeast Greenland use pieces of glacial ice as habitat and hunting platforms.
- Large numbers of polar bears are expected to decline as climate change accelerates, but small populations may persist in places like this, where the pace of melting is expected to be slower, experts say.

First Nation reclaims territory by declaring Indigenous protected area in Canada
- The Mamalilikulla First Nation has declared part of its traditional territory on British Columbia’s Central Coast that it lost to colonialism to be an Indigenous protected and conserved area (IPCA).
- The Nation views the declaration to be a step toward sovereignty and is seeking “co-governance” with Canadian federal and provincial governments; the latter typically talk of “co-management,” which would retain settler authority.
- Canada and British Columbia have their own policies for protecting nature, but some conservationists and Indigenous groups argue that Indigenous peoples are better at sustainable management. The area of the IPCA has been degraded by logging and fishing.
- The Mamalilikulla have a plan to restore the land and sea and are calling for a five-year moratorium on logging and immediate protection of a marine area called Hoeya Sill, home to rare corals and sponges.

Lessons from panda conservation could help Asia’s other, overlooked, bears
- Asia is home to five bear species: giant pandas, Asian black bears, sun bears, sloth bears and brown bears.
- Giant pandas garner far more attention than the four other species, and this has paid off for the former: Millions of dollars are spent on its conservation every year, leading to an improvement in its conservation status in 2016.
- By contrast, the other species receive little funding, and conservation and monitoring efforts are limited even as populations dwindle.
- Experts say successful panda conservation efforts indicate that the other Asian bear species could also rebound — but that being charismatic helps.

Tiger and bear rescue spotlights captive wildlife tourism woes in Thailand
- After two years of closed borders and little tourism revenue, many captive wildlife facilities around the world are struggling.
- Phuket Zoo in Thailand recently closed down permanently, but rehoming its 11 tigers and two bears has proved a challenge.
- A local nonprofit, Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, has stepped in to undertake the largest single rescue of tigers in the country’s history, and has so far transferred one female tiger to its rescue center.
- Animal welfare experts say the situation highlights the perils of overreliance on tourism and are calling on the government to place better controls on breeding animals in captivity.

The secret bears of Bolivia’s lost dry forests
- Researchers have discovered a secret population of spectacled bears in a remnant, endangered forest in the highlands of Bolivia.
- The forest is one of the last surviving patches of the highly imperilled inter-Andean dry forest.
- While the spectacled bear population is small and has many threats, researchers say they hope to connect it with other populations.

Arctic biodiversity at risk as world overshoots climate planetary boundary
- The Arctic Ocean biome is changing rapidly, warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. In turn, multiyear sea ice is thinning and shrinking, upsetting the system’s natural equilibrium.
- Thinner sea ice has led to massive under-ice phytoplankton blooms, drawing southern species poleward; fish species from lower latitudes are moving into the peripheral seas of the Arctic Ocean, displacing and outcompeting native Arctic species.
- Predators at the top of the food chain, such as polar bears, are suffering the consequences of disappearing ice, forced onto land for longer periods of time where they cannot productively hunt.
- The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement has been signed by 10 parties to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the basin until the region and climate change impacts are better understood by scientists. International cooperation will be critical to protect what biodiversity remains.

As predators return to Sweden’s wild, ecotourism looks to change mindsets
- Top carnivores such as bears, wolves and lynxes are thriving in the wild in Sweden, where many of them were once extinct or nearly wiped out.
- Policies such as hunting restrictions and compensation for herders affected by livestock predation have allowed these species to recover.
- However, the growing presence of these animals, in particular the wolf, has been controversial, especially among farmers and hunters.
- Ecotourism operators, who expect the predator populations to hold steady over the long term, want locals to see that they can coexist with, and even profit from, the wildlife in their midst.

The vanishing trails of Sri Lanka’s sloth bears (Commentary)
- In Sri Lanka, the sloth bear (Melursus ursinus inoratus) is on the decline, its population dropping drastically over the years.
- It’s among the most feared and misunderstood creatures on the island, and this fear often results in humans attacking these animals first, leading to bear deaths but also grievous injury or death to humans.
- A threatened species, there are fewer than 1,000 sloth bears in Sri Lanka.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

‘Saving sun bears’: Q&A with book author Sarah Pye
- A new book, “Saving Sun Bears,” chronicles the efforts of Malaysian wildlife biologist Wong Siew Te to protect sun bears in Borneo.
- Author Sarah Pye tells Wong’s story, from his boyhood in peninsular Malaysia, to his studies of animal husbandry and wildlife around the world.
- Wong’s journey led him to return to Malaysia and start the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, the only facility of its kind in the world, in 2008.

What is a sun bear? Candid Animal Cam heads to Asia to meet this elusive bear
- Every Tuesday, Mongabay brings you a new episode of Candid Animal Cam, our show featuring animals caught on camera traps around the world and hosted by Romi Castagnino, our writer and conservation scientist.

What is a brown bear? Candid Animal Cam explores the lives of some of the largest bears in the world
- Camera traps bring you closer to the secretive natural world and are an important conservation tool to study wildlife. This week we’re meeting the second largest terrestrial carnivore on the planet: the brown bear.

On a mega reserve in Laos, rescued moon bears find a new home
- Animal charity Free the Bears has opened a mountain-top reserve in Laos for animals that have been saved from the illegal wildlife trade.
- The charity had a record year of rescues and now has 77 bears in its care.
- With the help of the Lao government it aims to close all bile farms in Laos by 2022.

Chinese government reportedly recommending bear bile injections to treat coronavirus
- The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported today that a list of recommended treatments for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 published by the Chinese government earlier this month includes injections of a traditional medicine called “Tan Re Qing,” which contains bear bile.
- Last month, China adopted a comprehensive ban on trade and consumption of wildlife in response to the growing COVID-19 outbreak, which scientists believe originated in a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan where wild animals and bushmeat are sold. But the ban does not prohibit the use of wildlife products in traditional Chinese medicine or as ornamental items.
- EIA wildlife campaigner and China specialist Aron White noted the irony in the country recommending a treatment that relies on trade in wildlife in response to a global disease pandemic born from the wildlife trade.

What is a spectacled bear? Candid Animal Cam takes us to the Andes
- Every Tuesday, Mongabay will bring you a new episode of Candid Animal Cam, our new show featuring animals caught on camera traps around the world and hosted by Romi Castagnino, our writer and conservation scientist.

Iran sentences eight conservationists convicted of spying
- A court in Tehran last week delivered a guilty verdict in the case of eight Iranian conservationists accused of spying, with sentences ranging from four to 10 years.
- The eight were all affiliated with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a Tehran-based conservation organization that works to save the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and other species. The charges appear to be related to allegations that the conservationists used wildlife camera traps for the purpose of espionage.
- The eight conservationists have been imprisoned since their arrests in January 2018. A colleague arrested at the same time died in custody.
- Rights groups and conservation organizations have condemned the verdict, alleging serious flaws in the judicial process.

Camera trap study finds a threatened high-elevation mammal community in Peru
- A new camera trap study, the results of which were published in the journal Oryx last week, seeks to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the Cerros del Sira’s mammalian inhabitants.
- An international team of scientists from Peru and the UK led by Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, a biologist at Peru’s National University of Cusco, deployed 45 camera traps from 2015 to 2016 in the Sira Communal Reserve, part of the Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yánesha Biosphere Reserve.
- Aside from revealing the distribution of and threats to the Cerros del Sira’s mammal community, the results of the camera trap survey led to a number of other insights.

Peru: Get to know the diverse wildlife of the cloud forests of Pampa Hermosa | VIDEOS
- Biologist Sean McHugh, along with filmmaker and photographer Jasmina McKibben, recently traveled to the Colibri cloud forest in Peru’s Pampa Hermosa district in search of the spectacled bear.
- At least 25 different species of mammals were observed in a rarely-investigated area of the Junín region of Peru.
- Two spectacled bears and a new population of yellow-tailed woolly monkeys were captured on video.

Camera traps and customary wisdom help redefine bear conservation
- Camera traps set up around a Canadian artic research camp led to the first published documentation of all three North American bear species in the same locations.
- Although more than 90 percent of the 401 bear visits recorded by the cameras were of polar bears, the presence of grizzlies, which have been seen as threatening polar bears, has caused debate among scientists, conservation managers and local communities.
- The camera data did not document interactions among polar, grizzly and black bears, though the researchers say the spatial overlap of the species suggests potential for interspecies interactions to occur, raising questions about how they might affect bear conservation efforts in the future.
- Some conservation managers, aware that their values align with those of the region’s Indigenous communities, are increasingly marrying traditional wisdom to scientific methods to inform their work.

Study finds bears react, then habituate, to drones
- Small drones increasingly serve as tools to monitor wildlife, detect habitat change, or search for poachers, but their use may be stressing out the animals being studied or other species.
- A research team tested whether black bears would habituate to the repeated presence of drones flying overhead and, if so, whether they would remain habituated to additional flights conducted after a break.
- The bears showed an increased tolerance to drone flights in the short term, which they maintained after a nearly four-month pause.
- With the expanding use of drones in wildlife and habitat studies, the researchers expect their findings to help inform best practices that could reduce animal disturbance in the long run.

Camera traps find rich community of carnivores on Apostle Islands
- Some 160 camera traps deployed across the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior in Wisconsin, U.S., have revealed a diverse community of carnivores, including the American marten, black bear, bobcat, coyote, and gray wolf.
- The camera trap survey provided the first photographic evidence of the American marten in the islands in over 50 years. The marten is listed as endangered in Wisconsin.
- The study also found that islands that were larger or closer to the mainland, or both, held a greater number of carnivore species than islands that were small or more distant — patterns consistent with the concept of island biogeography.
- The movement of the carnivores, either through swimming or via ice bridges formed when parts of the lake freeze, could be under threat from climate change, the researchers warn.

Asiatic black bear cubs rescued from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam
- Vietnamese authorities confiscated the two female bear cubs from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province on January 9, according to Vienna, Austria-based animal welfare NGO Four Paws.
- After spending a night in a hotel, the cubs were taken to a Four Paws bear sanctuary in Ninh Binh on January 10, where they are receiving intensive medical care.
- Authorities do not know who was meant to buy the bear cubs or where their ultimate destination was. It’s likely that the bears were imported from Laos, though they could also have come from a bear farm in Vietnam.

Bear-human conflict risks pinpointed amid resurgent bear population
- New research maps out the potential risk “hotspots” for black bear-human conflict based on an analysis of conditions that led to nearly 400 bear deaths between 1997 and 2013.
- The study area covered the Lake Tahoe Basin and the Great Basin Desert in western Nevada.
- The methods used to predict risks based on environmental variables could help wildlife managers identify and mitigate human-carnivore conflict in other parts of the world, the authors write.

Whales not enough sustenance for polar bears in fast-changing climate
- Scientists believe that whale carcasses may have helped polar bears survive past upswings in temperatures that melted the sea ice from which they usually hunt seals.
- As the current changing climate threatens to make the Arctic ice-free during the summer, this strategy may help some populations of polar bears to survive.
- But according to new study, whale carcasses won’t provide enough food for most bear populations because there are fewer whales than there once were, and human settlements, industry and shipping could affect the bears’ access to any carcasses that do wash ashore.

Poachers caught on video killing mother bear and cubs at den in Alaska
- Two hunters allegedly killed a female bear and her cubs at the animals’ den in April, in violation of hunting laws.
- The mother bear was part of a wildlife study and wore a tracking collar.
- As part of the study, a video camera had been set up near the den and captured the hunters’ alleged actions.
- The U.S. Humane Society says proposed changes to federal hunting laws that would make killing bears in their dens legal are “cruel and unsporting,” while several hunting groups argue that the law changes are necessary to stop the federal government’s overreach into Alaska’s wildlife management.

Vietnam’s bear bile farms are collapsing — but it may not be good news
- Consumer interest in farmed bear bile seems to be declining in Vietnam, according to a new study, but this raises concerns for both captive and wild bears.
- Farmers are now spending very little on food for the bears, for instance, and often kill the bears after seven to eight years of extensive bile extraction.
- Moreover, bear farming appears to be less lucrative than illegal hunting of wild bears because of both high consumer demand for wild-sourced products and underresourced law enforcement, the authors write.

Last Glimpses of a Cambodian Paradise? Documenting an area on the eve of its likely destruction (commentary)
- The sheer scale of the logging operations in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park makes it a wonder that there’s anything left of the forest, especially as the timber just keeps flowing into Vietnam unabated. In fact, Cambodia has one of the world’s highest deforestation rates.
- Yet there is still plenty of wildlife, at least in Virachey National Park, where I have been part of a team that has been conducting a wildlife survey for four years now.
- All hope could well be lost — man/progress must be served. But are the nails firmly placed in the biodiversity coffin and awaiting final pounding? Perhaps not.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Animals are becoming night owls to avoid humans
- By analyzing 76 studies and activity patterns of 62 mammal species, including bears, deer, coyotes and tigers, researchers have found that large mammals are 1.36 times more active at night in areas with high human presence compared to areas with low human presence.
- These results seemed to be consistent across species and continents.
- Animals seem to be becoming more nocturnal not only to avoid direct threats like hunting, but to avoid even recreational human activities like hiking and mountain biking.

Latam Eco Review: Paddington Bear Captured on Camera in Peru

Among the top articles from our Spanish language service, Mongabay Latam, for the week of June 4 – 10 was one about a golden spectacled bear named after Paddington Bear that was caught by a camera trap for the first time in Peru. In other news, the debate on hydroelectric plants intensifies in Colombia, and […]
Epic battle between tiger and sloth bear caught on film
- Footage of a fight between a male tiger and a mother sloth bear in an India wildlife reserve has gone viral on Facebook.
- The video, shot this week in Tadoba National Park, was captured by Akshay Kumar, the chief naturalist at Bamboo Forest Safari Lodge in Maharashtra.
- The video starts with the tiger chasing off a sloth bear that was headed with her cub toward a water body.
- The bear then charges the tiger and the fight ensues.

Mountain lions often lose to wolves and bears, study finds
- When the hunting grounds of pumas overlap with those of other top predators, such as wolves, bears and jaguars, pumas are often the losers, a new study has found.
- The findings from the study, a review of existing scientific literature, are especially important given how pumas are still being intensively hunted over much of their range in a bid to reduce conflicts with people and livestock, researchers say.
- In some puma habitats where wolves and brown bears are recolonizing and recovering, wildlife managers need to be cautious about hunting limits for pumas, the authors write.

Harnessing the power of camera trap bycatch data to monitor threatened species (commentary)
- Historically, due to a lack of data, estimates of sun bear population trends have been little more than educated guesses made by experts. A major obstacle to monitoring population trends is that there are only a handful of sun bear-focused studies that collect data on population dynamics.
- Satellite imagery of tree cover change through time is available globally, as are bycatch camera trap data. There are many camera trap studies going on within the sun bear’s range that collect huge volumes of bycatch data, which are data on species that are not the primary focus of the study.
- With these tools at our disposal, it seemed that a more objective, data-driven measure of sun bear population trends was possible, and we believe that the innovate approach we ended up using has broad potential.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

New research might finally establish true identity of the mysterious Yeti
- Bits of hair and old bones purported to belong to a Yeti have been collected throughout the years, and an untold number of people have claimed to have seen one of the creatures, or at least its footprints, firsthand. Yet documented proof of the Yeti and its species identity has remained elusive.
- New research might finally answer the question of what the Yeti really is, however. An international team of scientists led by Tianying Lan of the University at Buffalo in New York analyzed 24 samples of bone, feces, hair, and skin from the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region that either belonged to a bear or, allegedly, a Yeti.
- Researchers determined that all of the Yeti samples they collected for their study came from the bear species that call the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding Himalayan mountains home, except for one specimen collected from a stuffed exhibit in a museum that they determined had come from a dog

Top 10 most widely traded animals in the Golden Triangle identified in new report
- Recent surveys by WWF and TRAFFIC have identified 10 of the most widely trafficked animals in the Golden Triangle.
- These top 10 animals are: the tiger, elephant, pangolin, bear, rhinoceros, serow, helmeted hornbill, gaur, leopard, and turtles.
- The wildlife markets in the Golden Triangle cater mostly to tourists from China and Vietnam, the report noted.

China sends first pandas to Indonesia under captive-breeding agreement
- Two giant pandas from China arrived in Indonesia on a mission to increase the species’ population.
- The couple, a male and a female, will live in a special enclosure at a zoo outside Jakarta for the next decade.
- Zoo officials are open to trying every possible breeding technique to help the bears reproduce.

Wild Kratts episode up for film festival award teaches about rare white bear
- The film “Wild Kratts: Spirit Bear” is a finalist for Best Engaging Youth Film at the Jackson Hole Film Festival. The festival is considered to be the “Oscars of nature filmmaking” and received over 1,000 entries for 25 awards.
- Wild Kratts is a mixed live and animation youth conservation education cartoon series.
- The “Wild Kratts: Spirit Bear” episode highlights a special subspecies of the North American black bear that has white fur.

Photos: South America’s adorable Andean bear
- This photo essay comes via Mongabay’s partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wild View blog.
- Once a month we’ll publish a contribution from Wild View that highlights an animal species.
- This month, Scott Silver writes about the only bear species from South America – the Andean bear.
- Sometimes called the spectacled bear due to its cream-colored facial markings that can look like eyeglasses, these bears are found in parts of southern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and northern Argentina.

‘Tracking Gobi Grizzlies:’ Book excerpt and Q&A with Douglas Chadwick, wildlife biologist and author
- Gobi bears, or mazaalai in Mongolian, actually belong to the species Ursus arctos, more commonly known as brown bears or grizzly bears, though they’re the only bear of any species known to make their home exclusively in desert habitat.
- Due to the impacts of climate change in their already punishing environment, it’s believed that there may be just 30 or so Gobi bears left in the world.
- In this Q&A, Chadwick discusses why now was the right time for Tracking Gobi Grizzlies to be written, the conservation status of Gobi bears, and just how important the endangered bear’s survival is to the overall Gobi Desert ecosystem.

Latest death highlights plight of spectacled bear in Colombia
- The bear was killed in Colombia during the same week a farmer was convicted for a previous killing.
- One expert estimates that as many as 10 bears are killed per year by humans in Colombia.
- Despite a special investigator and a big bounty for information, the main drivers of bear losses persist.

Scientists ‘impressed and delighted’ by animals found in remnant forests
- A new study finds promising conservation value in forest corridors along rivers in Sumatra’s plantation-dominated landscape.
- But government regulations require areas of forest that border rivers — called “riparian” forests – be left standing to safeguard water quality for downstream communities.
- In the first study of its kind conducted in the tropics, researchers set camera traps in riparian forests through tree plantations near Tesso Nilo National Park. They found a significant mammal presence, including tapirs, tigers, bears, pangolins, and elephants.
- The researchers say their findings indicate Sumatra’s forest remnants could help keep wildlife populations afloat in areas with lots of habitat loss. However, they caution that these corridors are threatened by lax regulation enforcement, and can only work in tandem with larger forested areas.

Illegal trade in bear bile persists in Vietnam despite ban
- Vietnam, where trade in bear bile is illegal but keeping bears in farms is not, is thought to hold some 1,250 animals.
- The unending demand for bear parts is driving two bear species — Sun Bear and Asiatic Black Bear — towards extinction.
- Bear farming is likely exacerbating the threats to wild bear populations, researchers say.

Romania announces ban on trophy hunting of bears, wolves and wildcats
- A loophole in the European law allows thousands of Romania’s wild animals to be hunted for sport every year.
- But following protests by environmental groups, the Ministry of Environment announced that it had cancelled an order that would have allowed trophy hunting of about 1,700 wild animals this year.
- Conflict animals can still be hunted, but only the ministry-approved Wildlife Emergency Service – SUAS, a newly created state agency, would be allowed to shoot the animals if necessary.

Based on available evidence, non-lethal predator control is more effective than lethal means
- Lethal methods for controlling predators include hunting, destroying litters of young, poisoning, live-trapping followed by killing, and the use of kill traps.
- Non-lethal methods include livestock-guarding animals, a visual deterrent known as “fladry” in addition to other types of deterrents and repellents, enclosures, diversionary feeding, and sterilization.
- But, the authors of the study say, these methods are often selected and deployed without first taking into consideration the experimental evidence of those methods’ effectiveness at curbing predation-related threats or avoiding ecological degradation.

Malayan Sun bear: bile trade threatens the World’s smallest bear
- The Malayan Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is listed as Vulnerable to Extinction by the IUCN, and is threatened by habitat loss and hunting for traditional medicine. Its range once extended across mainland Southeast Asia, to Sumatra and Borneo, but the animal now occurs only patchily throughout.
- Sun bears are a keystone species, vitally important to seed dispersal, pest control and nutrient cycling, so their extinction would likely bring major, though largely unstudied, impacts to tropical forests.
- Killing Sun bears is prohibited under international and national wildlife protection laws, but these laws are often poorly enforced, while international trade in bear bile to serve the traditional medicine industry continues to boom.
- Conservationists in Indonesia and elsewhere are studying Sun bear behavior to improve rescue and restoration efforts. Others want to eliminate commercial bear farms where bear bile is extracted, and end trafficking by creating strong national legislation, improving enforcement, and raising public awareness.

Turkey’s wild bears migrate for food; but some bears prefer garbage dumps
- Scientists tracked 16 adult brown bears using GPS receivers around the city of Sarıkamış in Turkey, and observed that six of them migrated seasonally.
- Between the months of September and November each year, the bears moved from Sarıkamış Forest, a Scots pine forest with few nuts or fruits in the understory, to rich, oak forests located far away.
- But many wild bears are turning to city garbage dumps, instead of trekking long distances for food, the study found, increasing incidences of human-bear conflict.

‘Bear-moving’ revamped: a better way to reduce conflict in the Himalayas?
- Asiatic black bears are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN and are under threat from habitat loss and poaching.
- In northern India, bears come into conflict with people when they enter human communities to look for food. These bears are often relocated — or “translocated” — to nearby Dachigam National Park.
- However, bear scientists say translocated bears frequently try to find their way back, running into trouble on the way. They recommend a more multifaceted approach to bear translocation.

Giant panda population rises by nearly 17 percent

Giant panda at the Panda Breeding Centre in the Wolong Panda Reserve. Photo by: © Bernard de Wetter / WWF. One of the most iconic animals on the planet got good news this week. The world’s giant panda population has risen by 268 individuals over the last decade, hitting a total of 1,864 animals, according […]
Arctic upheaval: new book outlines challenges at the top of the world

Chukotkan dancers. Subsistence hunting will be increasingly difficult for the Inuit who depend on marine mammals in the Arctic to provide them with food and materials for clothing. Photo by: Edward Struzik. For most of us, the Arctic is not at the front of our minds. We view it as cold, stark, and, most importantly, […]
New study: ‘Yeti’ hairs do not point to unknown bear species

Polar bear in Alaska. Polar bears are the world’s largest land carnivore. Photo by: Alan Wilson/Creative Commons 3.0. A new study casts doubt on findings from 2013 that hairs from a purported Yeti belonged to an unknown bear species or polar and brown bear hybrid. Instead, two researchers—who took a fresh look at the DNA […]
The only solution for polar bears: ‘stop the rise in CO2 and other greenhouse gases’

Steven Amstrup will be speaking at the Wildlife Conservation Network Expo in San Francisco on October 11th, 2014. In 1773, an expedition headed by Constantine John Phipps, the Second Baron Mulgrave, embarked on a dangerous journey North—to see how far they could go before having to turn back. In his report at the end of […]
Surprising habitat: camera traps reveal high mammal diversity in forest patches within oil palm plantations

Researchers urge collaboration between NGOs, corporations At first the forest seems still, with only the sounds of busy insects and slight movement of wind betraying activity in the patchy undergrowth. Then, curiously, a Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga), an animal resembling half cat and half weasel, scampers out to claim its prize: a stick smeared with […]
Scientists can now accurately count polar bears…from space

Polar bears are big animals. As the world’s largest land predators, a single male can weigh over a staggering 700 kilograms (about 1,500 pounds). But as impressive as they are, it’s difficult to imagine counting polar bears from space. Still, this is exactly what scientists have done according to a new paper in the open-access […]
Bigfoot found? Nope, ‘sasquatch hairs’ come from cows, raccoons, and humans

‘Yeti hairs’ lead to a new mystery, however Some people believe there are large undescribed apes roaming North America and Asia. This male Sumatran orangutan is one of seven species (including humans) of great apes in the world today. Sumatran orangutans are currently considered Endangered by the IUCN Red List. All the great ape species […]
Bears, cats, and mystery mammals: camera traps in ‘paper park’ prove it’s worth protecting

Camera traps catch endangered species in remote park in Cambodia A rare Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) dashes past a camera trap in Virachey National Park. This species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Photo by: Habitat ID. Can a single photograph change the fate of a park? A new conservation group, […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? Work locally, relentlessly, and, if necessary, ignore the government

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Gabriella Fredriksson Sun bears with tracking collars. Photo courtesy of Gabriella Fredriksson. In 1997, Gabriella Fredriksson, then a young PhD student, was studying sun bears in East Kalamantan, Indonesia, when massive forest fires broke out in the park. “It quickly became clear that there was no government […]
A sketch of the yeti: saving the Himalayan brown bear

Overall, the brown bear is one of the most widespread bear species in the world, found in much of Eurasia and North America, in quite large numbers. A subspecies called the Himalayan brown bear is not so fortunate. It occupies higher reaches of the Himalayas in remote, mountainous areas of Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet and India. […]
Chinese who eat endangered species could face over ten years in jail

It’s well known that much of the world’s massive illegal wildlife trade ends up in China, including poached tigers, pangolins, and bears. But now those who order pangolin fetuses, tiger blood, or bear bile at a restaurant or market may see significant jail time. According to a reinterpretation of Chinese law by the Standing Committee […]
Predator appreciation: how saving lions, tigers, and polar bears could rescue ourselves

Lioness feeding. Photo by: Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson. In the new book, In Predatory Light: Lions and Tigers and Polar Bears, authors Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Sy Montgomery, and John Houston, and photographers Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson share with us an impassioned and detailed appeal to appreciate three of the world’s biggest predators: lions, […]
Over 75 percent of large predators declining

The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline […]
Curious bears take ‘selfies’ with camera traps

“Selfies” are all the rage this year, and even bears have jumped on the trend. Especially the shaggy-coated, termite-loving sloth bears (Melursus ursinus), who seem particularly fascinated by the cameras that scientists have put up in forests to secretly capture their stealthy moves. On November 26 at 7:30 PM, one curious sloth bear decided to […]
Journalists win environmental news reporting prizes

Mongabay announces its first annual top contributor prizes for 2013. Mongabay’s internship program has benefited from the hard work and great environmental reporting of more than 30 writing interns since the program’s inception in July 2012. This year, Mongabay asked this pool of contributing authors to submit their most compelling piece out of over 150 […]
New project works to raise the profile of the world’s littlest bear

The world’s least-known bear also happens to be the smallest: sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), so called for the yellowish horseshoe mark on its chest, are found across Southeast Asia. But despite their telltale markings, super-long tongues, and endearing cuteness, sun bears remain little-studied and little-known compared to many of the region’s other large mammals. Now, […]
The swan song of India’s dancing bears

India’s last dancing bear has retired. As the stars of their cruel little roadshows, sloth bears danced to the piercing sounds of the damru for hundreds of years. Orphaned by poachers and trained by the Qalandars, a nomadic Muslim community, these bears trudged through towns and villages to earn their masters a meager livelihood. “Kajal […]
Wolves boost food for Yellowstone’s threatened grizzlies

Wolves and grizzlies aren’t best buddies. Burly bears can barge in on a feasting pack, making off with the wolves’ fresh kill. Wolves have been known to dig into bear dens and snag a cub. But after gray wolves returned to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, grizzly bears ate more berries in the summer for […]
Featured video: bears work together to take down camera traps

Scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have captured stunning images of Andean bear families taking down camera traps in Bolivia’s Apolobamba National Natural Area of Integrated Management. In one series of images a mother and her two cubs bite, claw, and whack one of the cameras. However even as they destroy one camera, the […]
Yeti may be undescribed bear species

The purported Yeti, an ape-like creature that walks upright and roams the remote Himalayas, may in fact be an ancient polar bear species, according to new DNA research by Bryan Sykes with Oxford University. Sykes subjected two hairs from what locals say belonged to the elusive Yeti only to discover that the genetics matched a […]
Not far from Rome, Italy’s distinct bear faces down extinction

The Marsican brown bear is on the brink of extinction. Despite authorities spending millions of Euros on its conservation, high human-caused mortality is menacing the survival of this distinct subspecies. The Marsican brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) is only found in the Italy’s Central Apennines, less than 200 kilometers from Rome. The last reliable research […]
The brown bears of Bulgaria – life after dancing

A rehabilitation center for retired dancing bears sounds like a typo. Yet this is exactly what the animal rights NGOs Four Paws and Foundation Brigitte Bardot created 13 years ago in Belitsa, Bulgaria. For many Bulgarians the first childhood contact with a forest animal is seeing a ‘dancing bear’ on the street in their city. […]
China’s growing wine industry threatening pandas and other endangered species

In 1985, Li Hua visited a valley in the foothills of the Tibetan plateau. The area was better known for its panda population, but the oenologist realized that its high altitude, hours of sunshine, sandy soil and low precipitation also offered ideal conditions for growing grapes. Li’s findings gave local authorities an idea, and over […]
First of its kind rescue and release for sloth bear in India

For a young wild sloth bear who found himself amidst a panic-stricken village in India, rescue was fortunately, and surprisingly, close at hand. In a one-of-a-kind heartwarming story, a team from Wildlife SOS (WSOS) India – a conservation and welfare NGO – successfully rescued, treated and subsequently released the sloth bear back into the wild, […]
Featured video: Rare Syrian Brown Bear caught on camera
New camera-trap footage from the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge in Armenia, has captured rare footage of a Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus), a subspecies of Brown Bear native to Eurasia. This is an important recording as there may be just one or two bears in this reserve and the animals are listed as vulnerable in […]
Asian bear farming: breaking the cycle of exploitation (warning: graphic images)

Sun bear in a cage in Indonesia. Photo by: Chris R. Shepherd/TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. In the forests of Asia, bears are being captured. These captives will be sent to bear farms, most unregulated and illegal, where they will be kept alive in a small cage, locked away for life. Their bodies will be used as […]
Photos: camera traps capture wildlife bonanza in Borneo forest corridor

The Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis), a prospective subspecies of the Asian elephant, is the world’s smallest. Photo by: Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC). Camera traps placed in a corridor connecting two forest fragments have revealed (in stunning visuals) the importance of such linkages for Borneo’s imperiled mammals and […]
Just how far can a polar bear swim?

Polar bear swimming in open water. Photo by: USGS. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are capable of swimming incredible distances, according to a new study published in Zoology, which recorded polar bears regularly swimming over 30 miles (48 kilometers) and, in one case, as far as 220 miles (354 kilometers). The researchers believe the ability of […]
Turkey’s rich biodiversity at risk

Turkey’s stunning landscapes and wildlife are under threat due to government ambivalence. Here, the sun sets outside Igdir, Turkey. Photo by: Cagan Sekercioglu. Turkey: the splendor of the Hagia Sophia, the ruins of Ephesus, and the bizarre caves of the Cappadocia. For foreign travelers, Turkey is a nation of cultural, religious, and historic wonders: a […]
The truth about polar bears and climate change

Polar bear beside a whale carcass. Taken with a remote camera. © National Geographic Entertainment. Photo by: Florian Schulz. Although scientists say innumerable species are threatened by climate change, polar bears have been the global symbol of the movement to rein-in greenhouse gas emissions. This is perhaps not surprising, since polar bears are well known […]
Bear bile trade, both legal and illegal, ubiquitous in Asia

Surveying 13 nations and territories in Asia, the wildlife trade organization TRAFFIC found that the bear bile trade remains practically ubiquitous in the region. In many cases the trade, which extracts bile from captive bears’ gall bladders for sale as a pharmaceutical, flouts both local and international law, including Appendix I of Convention on International […]
Pet trade, palm oil, and poaching: the challenges of saving the ‘forgotten bear’

This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. “The WildLife” airs every Monday from 1-2 pm EST on WOMM-LP, 105.9 FM in Burlington, Vermont. You can livestream it at theradiator.org or download the podcast […]
Conservation photography: on shooting and saving the world’s largest temperate rainforest, an interview with Amy Gulick

Most of the US’s large ecosystems are but shadows of their former selves. The old-growth deciduous forests that once covered nearly all of the east and mid-west continental US are gone, reduced to a few fragmented patches that are still being lost. The tall grassy plains that once stretched further than any eye could see […]
Photos: rescued sun bears in Borneo moved to new facility

Rescued sun bears in Sabah, Borneo are getting a new home this week. The Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center (BSBCC) has finished Phase 1 of its construction of a new home for the bears. Eventually the center will include visitor facilities and observation gallery where tourists will have the chance to watch the bears. For […]
Polar bears are newcomers on the world stage

One of the most well-known animals, the polar bear, is a newcomer on the world stage, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By studying the DNA of an ancient polar bear jawbone uncovered in 2004 in Norway scientists have for the first time pinpointed the time when the […]
Grizzly bears move into polar bear territory, threatening polar cubs

Two of the world’s largest land carnivores are converging on the same territory, according to data recently published in Canadian Field Naturalist. Grizzly bears ( Ursus arctos horribilis) are moving into an area that has long been considered prime polar bear habitat in Manitoba, Canada. Although polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are bigger than their grizzly […]
Video: rare footage of the sun bear, the world’s smallest, making a nest in the canopy

Sun bear expert, Siew Te Wong, has captured rare footage of the world’s smallest bear making a nest high in the canopy. The nest-building of a sun bear is behaviour rarely seen, let alone filmed. The sun bear in the video is a radio-collared individual that Wong is keeping tabs on in Borneo. “Sun bears […]
New reserve created in Cambodia with REDD in mind

Cambodia’s Royal Government’s Council of Ministers has declared the creation of the Seima Protection Forest, a 1,100 square miles (2,849 square kilometers) park home to tigers, elephants, and endangered primates. The park’s creation was developed in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) “Carbon for Conservation” program, which intends to protect high-biodiversity ecosystems while raising […]
Urban black bears live recklessly compared to their forest counterparts

Urban black bears live recklessly compared to their forest counterparts Urban black bears live recklessly compared to their forest counterparts WCS September 30, 2008 Black bears that live around urban areas weigh more, get pregnant at a younger age, and are more likely to die violent deaths, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation […]
Logging, wildlife trade drive sun bears toward extinction

Habitat destruction, logging, wildlife trade drive sun bears toward extinction An Interview with sun bear expert Siew Te Wong:Habitat destruction, logging, wildlife trade drive sun bears toward extinction Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com September 25, 2008 Industrial logging, large-scale forest conversion for oil palm plantations, and the illegal wildlife trade have left sun bears the rarest […]
Bears pressured by development in the Canadian Rockies

Bears pressured by development in the Canadian Rockies Bears pressured by development in the Canadian Rockies WCS October 30, 2007 REPORT SAYS BOOMING DEVELOPMENT IN CANADIAN ROCKIES THREATENS TO SQUEEZE BEARS AND OTHER WILDLIFE The southern Canadian Rockies are still home to the most diverse assemblage of carnivores in North America, but a new report […]

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