Are Asian black bears endangered?
616975#12
Asiatic black bears are diurnal, though they become nocturnal near human habitations. They may live in family groups consisting of two adults and two successive litters of young. They will walk in a procession of largest to smallest. They are good climbers of rocks and trees, and will climb to feed, rest, sun, elude enemies and hibernate. Some older bears may become too heavy to climb. Half of their life is spent in trees and they are one of the largest arboreal mammals. In the Ussuri territory in the Russian Far East, black bears can spend up to 15% of their time in trees. Asiatic black bears break branches and twigs to place under themselves when feeding on trees, thus causing many trees in their home ranges to have nest-like structures on their tops. Asiatic black bears will rest for short periods in nests on trees standing fifteen feet or higher. Asiatic black bears do not hibernate over most of their range. They may hibernate in their colder, northern ranges, though some bears will simply move to lower elevations. Nearly all pregnant sows hibernate. Black bears prepare their dens for hibernation in mid-October, and will sleep from November until March. Their dens can either be dug out hollow trees (sixty feet above ground), caves or holes in the ground, hollow logs, or steep, mountainous and sunny slopes. They may also den in abandoned brown bear dens. Asiatic black bears tend to den at lower elevations and on less steep slopes than brown bears. Female black bears emerge from dens later than do males, and female black bears with cubs emerge later than barren females. Asiatic black bears tend to be less mobile than brown bears. With sufficient food, Asian black bears can remain in an area of roughly 1–2 sq km, and sometimes even as little as 0.5–1 sq km.
Asian black bear
616975#29
Five black bear populations, occurring in Kyushu, Shikoku, West-Chugoku, East-Chugoku and Kii areas, were listed as endangered by the Environmental Agency in the Japanese Red Data Book in 1991. Small isolated populations in the Tanzawa and Shimokita areas of mainland Honshū were listed as endangered in 1995. Beyond recognising these populations as endangered, there is still a lack of efficient conservation methods for Japanese black bears.
Asian black bear
616975#32
The Vietnamese Government issued Decision 276/QD, 276/1989, which prohibits the hunting and exporting of black bears. The Red Book of Vietnam lists Vietnamese black bears as endangered.
Asian black bear
616975#35
Poaching for gall bladders and skin are the main threat faced by black bears in India. In Pakistan it is listed as an endangered species.
Asian black bear
616975#31
As of January 30, 1989, Taiwan's Formosan black bears have been listed as an endangered species under the Natural and Cultural Heritage Act on, and was later listed as a Conserved Species Category I.
Asian black bear
616975#33
The Korean Government designated the Asian black bear as a Natural Monument No.329 and it is considered as extinction crisis. At present time Endangered Species Restoration Center of Korea National Park Service is going through species restoration business.
Asian black bear
52475959#0
The Japanese black bear ("Ursus thibetanus japonicus") is a subspecies of the Asian black bear that lives on three main islands of Japan: Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. There are said to be 10,000 black bears on Japan. The population of black bears on Shikoku and Kyushu may be endangered or extinct. There is a high price on bear parts in the black market, which threatens all bear populations in Japan. This particular species of bear are typically smaller with males only reaching and females only weighing about . Their body length is about long.
Japanese black bear
4402#2
While the brown bear's range has shrunk and it has faced local extinctions, it remains listed as a least concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with a total population of approximately 200,000. , this and the American black bear are the only bear species not classified as threatened by the IUCN. However, the California, North African and Mexican subspecies were hunted to extinction in the 19th and early 20th centuries and many of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered. One of the smaller-bodied subspecies, the Himalayan brown bear, is critically endangered, occupying only 2% of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its body parts. The Marsican brown bear, one of several currently isolated populations of the main Eurasian brown bear population in central Italy, is believed to have a population of just 30 to 40 bears.
Brown bear
4402#43
While the brown bear's range has shrunk and it has faced local extinctions, it remains listed as a least concern species by the IUCN, with a total population of approximately 200,000. , this and the American black bear are the only bear species not classified as threatened by the IUCN. However, the California, North African and Mexican subspecies, as well as brown bear populations in the Pacific Northwest, were hunted to extinction in the 19th and early 20th centuries and many of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered. The Syrian brown bear ("Ursus arctos syriacus") is very rare and it has been extirpated from more than half of its historic range. One of the smallest-bodied subspecies, the Himalayan brown bear ("Ursus arctos isabellinus"), is critically endangered, occupying only 2% of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its body parts. The Marsican brown bear in central Italy is believed to have a population of just 30-40 bears.
Brown bear
616975#37
Although black bears have been afforded protection in Russia since 1983, illegal poaching, fuelled by a growing demand for bear parts in the Asian market, is still a major threat to the Russian population. Many workers of Chinese and Korean origin, supposedly employed in the timber industry, are actually involved in the illegal trade. Some Russian sailors reportedly purchase bear parts from local hunters to sell them to Japanese and Southeast Asian clients. Russia's rapidly growing timber industry has been a serious threat to the Asiatic black bear's home range for three decades. The cutting of trees containing cavities deprives black bears of their main source of dens, and forces them to den on the ground or in rocks, thus making them more vulnerable to tigers, brown bears and hunters.
Asian black bear