Tibetan brown bear-SIKKIM

A rare and elusive bear, the Tibetan brown bear, has been recently sighted in Sikkim, making it the first confirmed record of the animal being sighted in India.

Tibetan Brown Bear

• The Tibetan brown bear, also known as the Tibetan blue bear, is one of the rarest subspecies of bears in the world and is rarely sighted in the wild. 
• Scientific Name: Ursus arctos pruinosus
• Distribution:
  • Historically found mainly on the alpine eastern Tibetan plateau (4,500 to 5,000 metres) in eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
  • Remaining bears in the wild seem to be confined to eastern Tibet and Bhutan.
• Habitat: It inhabits alpine forests, meadows, and steppes, close to the tree line.
• This rare bear is very different from the more commonly found Himalayan black bear in terms of its appearance, habitat, and behaviour.
• Features:
  • It has shaggy, dark brown to black fur, a cream to cinnamon face, and a white collar that broadens from the shoulders to the chest. 
  • It has small ears covered with long black fur.
  • Lifespan: around 20 to 30 years.
  • Its sense of smell is much more acute than its hearing and sight.
  • They are solitary, but the territories between two Himalayan brown bears have been seen to overlap. They are one of the most terrestrial of the bears. 
  • It feeds on marmots and alpine vegetation.

Conservation Status:

• • IUCN Red List: Least Concern
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act of 1972: Schedule II