Asian black bear

The Asian black bear, also called the Asiatic black bear, White-chested bear, Moon bear, or the Himalayan black bear, (Ursus thibetanus or Selenarctos thibetanus) is a medium-sized, sharp-clawed, black-coloured bear with a distinctive white or cream "V" marking on its chest.

It is a close relative of the American black bear with which it is thought to share a European common ancestor. It is called 반달가슴곰 (bandalgaseumgom) in Korean. Both American and Asiatic species are thought of as sister taxa. They are more closely related to one another than any other species of bear. Asian black bears are omnivores. They feed on fruit, grass, leaves, insects, rodents, rabbits, carrion, nuts, and even deer, buffalo, and wild boar. Their predators are humans, tigers, and brown bears, while leopards, wolves, lynxes, jackals, and dholes are predators of black bear cubs.

Asian Black Bear Media

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  Formosan Black Bear

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  Asian black bear - Iran, hormozgan, rudan

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  A sleeping Japanese black bear.*Ursus thibetanus japonicus.

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  Himalayan bear

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  Asian black bear in Cat Tien National Park by RPB

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  Bear

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  Ursus thibetanus ussuricus Kaliningrad Zoo

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  The white V-shaped chest mark of an Asian black bear

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  Asian black bear skull at Kyoto University Museum, Kyoto, Japan

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  Ursus thibetanus formosanus cub_on_tree