Bears: Facts about the furry omnivores that live in many parts of the world

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Where they live : The Americas , Europe and Asia

What they eat : Plants , Pisces the Fishes , bugs and pocket-size mammals

two black bears lounge in a tree

American black bear cubs sleeping in a tree.

How much they weigh : From as little as60 pounds(27 kilograms ) to more than1,700 pounds(771 kg )

bear are a type of mammalian that can be found in many parts of the world . From the diminutive , silly - looking Dominicus birth to the iconic polar bear , these animals are specially accommodate to dissimilar environments , include forests , mountains , icy tundra , desert and swamps . Though there are dissimilar type of bear , all bear mintage have similarities . They all have stocky , pelt - cover body ; short leg ; and a round top dog with a long snoot . Whether the Good Book " bear " makes you conceive of a trigger-happy piranha or a cuddly stuffed toy , there ’s mass to discover about the skill behind this divers group of mammals .

5 fast facts about bears

Everything you need to know about bears

What are the different types of bears?

There areeight mintage of bear : the American black bear , Asian black bear , brown bear , panda bear , polar bear , spectacled bear , sloth bear and sun bear .

Some of the most famous types of bear are really subspecies . Grizzly bears , for example , are a subspecies of dark-brown bear found in part of North America . There are many differentsubspecies of brown bearfound all over the earth , from Kodiak pay in Alaska to the Syrian dark-brown bear in the Middle East . These bears can bet quite different from each other , with distinct coat people of color and body sizes .

Thebiggest character of bearis the polar bear . On average , icy bears weigh about 1,150 hammering ( 521 kilogram ) and brook about 9 foot ( 2.7 metre ) magniloquent on their hind legs . The heaviest recorded polar bear was 2,210 Egyptian pound ( 1,002 kilogram ) . If you consider subspecies , the Kodiak bear generally matches polar bear ' size , but some item-by-item Kodiak bear have produce even more massive . The biggest - ever Kodiak bear was a giant named Clyde at the Dakota Zoo . At his heavy measured weight , he was a whopping 2,130 lbf. ( 966 kg ) — about as heavy as a pocket-size car .

a sun bear sticks its long tongue out

(Image credit: 4FR via Getty Images)

The lowly bear metal money is the sun bear . These tiny bears weigh only 60 to 145 pounds ( 27 to 66 kg ) , and are only 4 to 5 feet ( 1.2 to 1.5 m ) tall standing on their hind legs .

Where do bears live?

bear can be witness in many dissimilar climates all over the populace .

Brown bearsare found in more position than any other bear mintage . They experience in northwest North America , Europe and parts of Asia .

American bootleg bear survive only in North America , and spectacled bear are found only in South America . Asian shameful bear andsun bearsare observe all over Asia . The slothfulness bear also lives in Asia , particularly in India , Nepal , Bhutan and Sri Lanka .

on the left, an American black bear lounges in a tree. On the right, an Asian black bear opens its mouth and stands tall in the forest.

(Image credit: Scott Suriano and amargevicius via Getty Images)

Polar bears andpanda bearsare some of the rare types of bears . gelid bears are discover only in icy parts of the Arctic , and pandas live only in besotted and cool bamboo forests in China .

Sun bears are the smallest bear specie .

There are two species of black bear : the American shameful bear ( get out ) and the Asian disgraceful bear ( right ) .

a brown bear stands in a river and opens its mouth as a fish jumps towards it

(Image credit: Adam Wight via Getty Images)

North American brown bears search salmon during their upstream migration .

Panda bears ' fatal - and - white food colouring aid them blend into snow-white environments .

Sloth bears use their long , curving hook to fag for ants and termites .

a panda bear eats bamboo in the snow

(Image credit: slowmotiongli via Getty Images)

Spectacled bear are native to South America .

opposite bears are the largest coinage of bear .

Why do bears hibernate?

Many bear in the Northern Hemispherehibernatewhen the conditions is cold-blooded and intellectual nourishment is scarce . Hibernationis a deep sleep that allows a bear to hold out without food for long periods of metre . bear hibernate for different amounts of time reckon on how cold it is . For example , brown bears in northern Alaska hibernate longer than chocolate-brown bear in regions farther to the south .. During hibernation , a bear ’s body temperature devolve slightly , its heart rate slows , and its dead body uses stored fatty tissue to stay live .

When they hibernate , bear ' body avoid disclose down the protein in their heftiness , so they do n’t lose too much metier . During this time , bears do n’t need to eat or drink , and they spend a penny and poop seldom or never . bear are n’t wholly immobile all winter , though . They tardily tilt status every now and then to conserve warmth and prevent sore from forming .

Many bear species do n’t hibernate at all . Sun bear , Ailuropoda melanoleuca bear , sloth bear and spectacled bear live in environment where intellectual nourishment is plentiful year - round , so there ’s no indigence for them to save energy in the winter . Wintertime also provides plenty of hunting opportunities for icy bears , so they do n’t hibernate , either . However , fraught polar bears do dig densto prepare for the birth of their lad . They pass most of their time in the den and rely on their body ’s fatty stores for energy , but they are not in a straight state of hibernation .

a sloth bear walks in the dirt

(Image credit: Mark Newman via Getty Images)

What do bears eat?

Bears are omnivorous , intend they eat both plant and meat . Each bear species has some preferred food , though . For object lesson , polar bears corrode mostly stamp , and pandas spend10 to 16 hours per dayeating bamboo . Termites are the principal food of sloth bears , which have long nose that allow them to suck white ant from their holes .