Name that Bear
What is the largest species of bear?
Polar bears
Adult male polar bears can reach up to 10 feet tall and weigh up to 1,540 pounds! Adult female polar bears are slightly smaller at 6-8 feet tall and up to 770 pounds.
Bears are _____________ meaning they eat plants and animals
Omnivores
The diet of a brown bear consists of grasses, berries, and other vegetation in the summer / late summer / fall. Brown bears also eat fish (such as salmon) and insects.
At what age is a bear considered an adult?
5-6 years old!
Biologists classify bears as adults once they are 5-6 years old. Like many other organisms, adulthood is defined by reaching sexual maturity and generally occurs around the bear’s sixth year.
What fictional British bear first appeared in 1958 in a children’s book?
Paddington Bear
Paddington first appeared on October 13, 1958, in a book called A Bear Called Paddington. Since then, he has been adapted for films, tv, and commercials.
This bear hybrid is becoming more common due to climate change
Pizzly bears and grolar bears
As the ice caps melt, polar bears have had to travel south and end up mating with the grizzly bears. This results in a hybrid species
This type of bear is unique for having "thumbs"
Panda bear 🐼
These "thumbs" are actually enlarged wrist bones that help pandas grasp bamboo.
Additional fun fact: Pandas were not initially born to eat bamboo. As a result of food scarcity, they evolved to eat bamboo (hence, the "thumb"), and have decreased energy as a result.
DAILY DOUBLE
How many species of bears are there?
8 🐻
How big are cubs when they are born?
Average is 1 pound
Bears are extremely small, without fur, and blind when they’re born. They average about 1 pound and depend entirely on their mother for nourishment. They grow very quickly after they are born due to their mom’s nutrient-rich milk.
This U.S. president inspired the first stuffed teddy bear
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt
On a hunting trip in 1902, Roosevelt had refused to shoot a captured bear. This resulted in The Washington Post releasing a cartoon of the encounter, which then inspired Morris Michtom (Novelty and Toy Company) to create a stuffed toy in Roosevelt's honor!
Of all the bear species, how many are considered vulnerable?
6 of the 8 (crying)
only black bears and grizzly bears are not considered vulnerable
DAILY DOUBLE
This bear has the longest claws and tongue of any bear species
Sun bears ☀️
Sun bears tongues can grow up to 25 cm (almost 10 inches)
Despite popular belief, bears are not hibernators. Instead, bears enter torpor, in which their heartrate slows, body temperature decreases, and their do not pass bodily waste. How many months do the longest torpors last?
7 or 8 months
Females also give birth and nurse during this period 🍼. Factors that influence how long torpor lasts include food availability, temperature, and the individual bear.
How long do cubs stay with their mother?
Around 2.5 years
Cubs will generally stay with their mother for 2.5 years. During their first year of life, they are called spring cubs, the second year they are called yearlings. The bears in Katmai typically separate from their moms in May or June of their third summer.
This fictional, feral bear was once a human prince who was cursed by a witch
Mor’du
Mor’du is the primary antagonist of Brave and has his own Disney short titled, “The Legend of Mor’du”
this state hunted grizzly bears to extinction in the area (hint: they still have a bear on their state flag!)
California
Grizzly bears were hunted to local extinction in California due to hunting, trapping, and poisoning efforts by settlers who viewed them as livestock threats in the early 1900s
Name the real bear. Which of these three bears is a real bear (two of them are misnomers): the red panda, the koala bear, or the sloth bear?
Sloth bear
Koalas are considered “marsupials” and red pandas are in their own unique category called “ailuridaes”
A group of bears is called a ____________
A "sleuth" or "sloth" (less commonly a maul)
Bears are typically solitary animals, aside from a mother with her cubs or when several bears gather at a rich food source
What sounds do bear cubs make to communicate with their mother? (name 2)
screams when scared or distressed, chirps or grunts to get moms attention, purring when content or nursing 🍼🐻
Which decade was the Smokey the Bear cartoon created?
Created in 1944 as part of a campaign the educate the US about the dangers of forest fires, Smokey's cartoon was created! In 1950, an American black bear cub was rescued from a wildfire in the Capitan Mountains and later became the Smokey mascot
Cute fact: Smokey received so much fan mail (and gifts of honey) at his home at the National Zoo in D.C. that he was given his own zip code (20252) 🍯💌
Name 3 of the ways you can protect bears in your area/ near your home.
do not feed them, keep garbage out of reach, protect your garden, store pet food properly, use bird feeders wisely, clean and store barbecue grills properly, never approach a bear, contact your local national park or state department of wildlife for support
Bears are quick learners and when people feed them (intentionally or not), they begin to associate humans with food, which then can pose a safety threat and cause them to be killed or relocated from their habitat
This South American bear, called the Andean Bear, is also known as the __________ bear due to its face pattern that resembles glasses
The Spectacled Bear 👓
We know very little about the Andean Bear (native to the Andes)! This is because they’re very reclusive, which limits our research on these shy little guys!
When you see a brown bear in the wild, you should _________, but when you see a black bear, you should _________________.
Brown bears: make yourself small and non-threatening or play dead / black bears: make yourself big, speak in a loud voice
This is because brown bears/ grizzly bears are territorial creatures and will fight a perceived threat while black bears are naturally curious and jumpy, and will be scared away easily
31%
Polar bear milk is the fattiest milk of all mammals !! this is why polar bear cubs grow so rapidly 🐻❄️
This is the name of the real bear that Winnie the Pooh was inspired by
Winnipeg (aka Winnie 😊)
Winnipeg the bear, aka Winnie, was donated to the London Zoo at the start of WWI where she caught the attention of the real Christopher Robin Milne, who then named his teddy bear Winnie the Pooh!
Name 3 of the major concerns of polar bear conservation, aside from climate change (which is the most prominent threat to polar bears right now) 🌏
commercial activity (gas and oil exploration, shipping, mining), intraspecies conflict and encounters, pollution, disease, unregulated or poorly regulated tourism, overharvesting (unregulated hunting)
All of the these concerns relate back to climate change and climate warming, as the sea ice melts, many problems arise for the polar bear populations due to their space/ habitat decreasing. The climate warming also relates to an increase of disease as more humans and other species migrate towards polar bear habitats and potentially introduce more diseases