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Terrestrial Wild Animals
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Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids
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Bears
Sloth Bear
Sloth Bear
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Sloth Bear
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Photo and information credits: Nimit Virdi's Photography
"Sloth Bear Habitat || April 2016" Tadoba - Andhari Tiger Reserve  *This image is copyright of its original author
  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
This is an awesome sighting form Tadoba, India . When a Gaur and Sloth bear interact at water hole.
 *This image is copyright of its original author According to Kirti Ranjan Nayak (owner of this image) The moment was tense..The heat killing.. A sloth bear found a water hole to quench her thirst along with her cub..She went for it first, checking the surroundings, unaware that a big male gaur was coming from behind, she mistook him as her cub. The gaur was too arrogant to share the waterhole with a sloth bear, gave her a soft nudge with his horns. What followed next with the startled bear and the adamant gaur, gave us some great scenes to shoot.
An amazing photo Sanjay. Those comparatively little shaggy insect-eaters can be quite bold when necessary.
Mess with the bull you get the horns...
Kirti Ranjan Nayak  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author I guess the old bull had never heard the saying "sharing is caring"
It surprised me when one day I was watching a documentary on the animals of India, when a group of wild boar were feeding ( cannot remember what they were eating ) when they were surprised by a sloth bear which boldly walked out of the surrounding forest right into their midst. Whatever the wild boars were feeding on was pleasing to the bear also. The pack of wild boar scurried off, leaving the prize to the bear.
I was surprised because sloth bears are not, to my knowledge, known to prey upon anything as large as a wild pig. Yet, those wild boars knew something about bears. 
Sloth Bear from Kanha, pic taken in June 2016 by DrVijay Baghel.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Andrea & Antonella Ferrari
Tadoba National Park, India  *This image is copyright of its original author
Male Sloth Bear
Zhari,Tadoba. June 2016. Credits to Narayan Malu  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Suhas Anand
"Sri Lankan sloth bear. Not someone I'd like to shake hands with. Look at that claw ! Sloth bears are one of the most dangerous animals you could come head-head with. Looks cuddly but not sure I'd want a hug. Yala National Park."  *This image is copyright of its original author
http://factsanddetails.com/asian/cat68/sub433/entry-3574.html
Sloth Bear Behavior Sloth bears are generally solitary and nocturnal but can be observed at any time of the day. The only time males and females come together is to mate (often in June and July). Generally, the only groups are a mother with cubs but brief groups of five to seven bears have been observed, communicating with strange facial expressions and a variety of sounds. Sloth bears spend much of their ambling along in a slow, deliberate fashion, looking for food. If motivated they can gallop at a relatively high speed. Sloth bears generally don't hibernate but retreat to caves and have a period of relative inactivity during the rainy season. Sloth bears can not be accused of sloth. They are quite busy. They spend almost all their free time searching for food. They generally don't defend territories; they just roam to where the food is. Their long claws are ideal for digging and fending off attacks not so good for climbing trees, which many other bears their size are good at. They produce a variety of sounds, including roars, squeals, howls, huffs, yelps, rattles and gurgles. They are particularly noisy when mating, when they also engage in mack fighting and hugging. When resting they make humming and buzzing noises sucking on their paws. Sloth bears are known for their pugnacity and aggressiveness They can do some serious damage with their long claws. They sometimes bite with their semi-toothed muzzle and hold on like a pit bull. Females are generally accommodating to other females. Fights sometimes break out between males. Sloth bears have been observed fighting with tigers and holding their own. One ranger told Smithsonian magazine he observed a sloth bear slap a tiger in the face and push it away. The tiger fled after that. The same ranger said the once saw a sloth bear take on three large tigers, each of which fled in a different direction after the encounter. However, tigers do kill sloth bears more often than visa versa. In most cases a tiger can kill a sloth bear of it wants to but is fearful if suffering severe wounds in the process. Sloth bears are regarded as very intelligent, employing reasoning when they feed. Sometimes before a rainstorm they dig a number of small holes in a termite nest and allow the rain to make them bigger before they dig up the hole. Like other bears, sloth bears can stand up on their hind legs, It first though this was a sign of aggression but it turns out they seem to do it to get a better view or survey the landscape and. more importantly, to sniff the air for food or danger.
*Note: post #29 states: Their long claws are ideal for digging and fending off attacks not so good for climbing trees, which many other bears their size are good at.
Some other sources of information describes sloth bears as being good tree-climbers. Good or bad depends on what you might compare his tree-climbing abilities with. Compared with a sun bear, an Andes bear, an Asiatic black bear, or an American black bear, the sloth bear can then be described as a rather slow and somewhat awkward tree-climber. Unlike the other bears mentioned, a sloth bear does not dart up a tree when danger threatens. He will however, climb a tree in search of fruit or honey, which he normally knocks out of the tree and then feeds on the ground. |
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