Sloth Bear

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is a medium-sized bear native to the Indian subcontinent, distinguished by its long, shaggy black coat, pale muzzle, and a distinctive cream-colored chest patch shaped like a U or Y. Unlike most bears, it is highly specialized for insect foraging: its lips are mobile and protrusible, its nostrils can close voluntarily, and it uses a powerful vacuum-like suction to extract termites and ants from their mounds, a feeding method unique among bears. Adults typically weigh between 55 and 145 kilograms, with males considerably larger than females. Sloth bears are largely nocturnal and solitary outside of mating season, and females are notable for carrying cubs on their backs, a behavior not seen in any other bear species.

The sloth bear's range spans India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, with smaller and increasingly fragmented populations in Bhutan and Bangladesh. It occupies tropical and subtropical dry forests, grasslands, and scrublands, where it plays a meaningful role in termite population regulation and seed dispersal through fruit consumption. The IUCN Red List classifies it as Vulnerable, with the global population estimated to have declined by more than 30 percent over the past three decades. Habitat loss driven by agricultural expansion and human settlement, fragmentation of forest corridors, poaching for the illegal wildlife trade, and human-bear conflict are the principal threats driving this decline.