ASIATIC BLACK BEAR

Scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the Himachal Pradesh Forest department have calculated the density and the population of Asiatic black bears in two Protected Areas of Himachal Pradesh.

About black bears

Scientists have calculated the population density of the bears for Darangati Wildlife Sanctuary and Rupi Bhaba.
The asiatic black bear is also called the Himalayan bear, Tibetan bear, or moon bear. They are members of the bear family found from southern Iran to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, and parts of eastern Asia, including Japan.
The Asiatic black bear is omnivorous as they are eating insects, fruit, nuts, bees and honey, small mammals, and birds as well as carrion.
The Asiatic black bears live predominantly in forested areas, especially in hills and mountainous areas.

Feature: It has a glossy black coat with a whitish mark shaped like a crescent moon on the chest.

An adult male weighs 100–200 kg and a female about half as much as a male bear.

Distribution

Asiatic black bears are found over a wide area of southern Asia.
They occur along the mountains from Afghanistan, through Pakistan and northern India, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan, into Burma and northeastern China.
They are also found in southeastern Russia, Taiwan, and the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku.
The bears are found in 83 protected areas of India spread across five states and 2 Union Territories in the Himalayas.
It is one of the large carnivore species having negative interactions with humans in the Indian Himalayas.

IUCN red list: It has been categorized as Vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species and is also listed under Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Methods used to determine the population status of Asiatic black bears in India have been limited to questionnaires, sign surveys, and genetic sampling using hair samples.

Source: Down To Earth

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