sun bear: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Helarctos malayanus • honey bear • bruang • Ursus malayanus • Malayan sun bear

Photos

Illustration of a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) sitting on its haunches, showing its black fur, pale muzzle, and a distinctive pale, crescent-shaped marking on its chest, with a scale bar indicating size.

A sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) with a short black coat and a distinct pale, crescent-shaped marking on its chest stands on grass in front of dense green foliage.

sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)

World map showing the geographic ranges of the eight bear species, each marked in a different color. The American black bear is found across much of North America, the polar bear in Arctic regions, the brown bear across northern North America, Europe, and Asia, and the spectacled bear in a small area of northwestern South America. In Asia, the Asiatic black bear, sloth bear, sun bear, and giant panda have distinct, mostly non-overlapping ranges in the eastern and southern parts of the continent.

sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)

A sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) with short black fur and a pale orange chest patch stands on grass with dense green foliage in the background.

A young sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) clings to the trunk of a tree, looking toward the camera, with green forest foliage in the background.

A sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) with a short black coat, pale muzzle, and a lighter patch on its chest walks on rocky ground.

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