Favorite Images of Spectacled Bears

A list of my favorite images of spectacled bears.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_bear

The spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), also known as the Andean bear or Andean short-faced bear, is the last remaining short-faced bear (sub-family Tremarctinae).

Its closest relatives are the extinct Florida spectacled bear and the giant short-faced bears of the Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene age.

Spectacled bears are the only surviving species of bear native to South America and the only surviving member of the sub-family Tremarctinae.

Despite some rare spilling-over into eastern Panama, spectacled bears are mostly restricted to certain areas of northern and western South America. They can range in western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, western Bolivia and northwestern Argentina. The species is found almost entirely in the Andes Mountains.

The spectacled bear is a mid-sized species of bear. Compared to other living bears, this species has a more rounded face with a relatively short and broad snout.

Overall, its fur is blackish in color, though bears may vary from jet black to dark brown and to even a reddish hue. The species is commonly referred to in English as the "spectacled bear", a reference to the light colouring on its chest, neck and face, which may resemble eyeglasses in some individuals.

Spectacled bears are more herbivorous than most other bears; normally about 5% to 7% of their diets is meat.

The most common foods for these bears include cactus, bromeliads, palm nuts, bamboo hearts, frailejon, orchid bulbs, fallen fruit on the forest floor and unopened palm leaves. They will also peel back tree bark to eat the nutritious second layer.

When encountered by humans or other spectacled bears, they will react in a docile but cautious manner unless the intruder is seen as a threat.

They usually retreat from the presence of humans, often by climbing trees. Once up a tree, they may often build a platform, perhaps to aid in concealment, as well as to rest and store food on.

Like other bears, mothers are protective of their young and have attacked poachers. There is only a single reported human death due to a spectacled bear, which occurred while it was being hunted and was already shot.

The species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN because of habitat loss.