Bears

Bears are found in North America, Europe, and Asia. One species lives in South America. However, there are no bears in tropical Africa.

The polar bear lives mostly in the Arctic north, where its white fur blends in with snow and ice. Polar bears are often seen on drifting masses of floating sea ice called floes. Brown bears, once widespread in Europe and Asia, are now rare. The grizzly bear, a brown bear of northern and western North America, has been killed off in many areas. The Kodiak bear, an Alaskan island bear closely related to the grizzly, is the world's largest living flesh-eating land mammal.

The American black bear is smaller than the brown bears. It still ranges widely in the forests of the United States and Canada. There is also an Asian, or Himalayan black bear. Most bears live in cold or temperate climates, but the sloth bear is a creature of the tropics. It lives in India and Sri Lanka. The sun bear, or Malayan sun bear, lives in the forests of Southeast Asia. The spectacled bear, which gets its name from the light-colored rings around its eyes, is the only bear of the Southern Hemisphere. It is found in the Andes Mountains of Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Bears are solitary creatures that avoid each other except in the mating season. Female bears give birth to one to four cubs at a time, usually in winter. Newborn cubs are small, hairless, and helpless creatures unable to open their eyes for about a week. Cubs drink their mother's milk for about two months and stay with her until the next breeding period begins, which is usually about a year and a half after their birth. Bears begin to breed at 2 to 6 years of age. The male bear plays no role in raising the cubs. Most bears live from 15 to 30 years in the wild. Captive bears have lived much longer.