Sun Bear: Sun in the Trees

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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of My Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in international nonprofit conservation organization behind the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. Today we're featuring the smallest member of the bear family. Sun Bears live in tropical forest in Southeast Asia. They grow to about half the size of an American black bear. Rick. What an adorable name. How did sun bears get their name? It really is a cool name, isn't it, Ebony. The common name sun bear comes from the white or yellowish marking on the chest, sometimes referred to as a crescent or bib marking. This marking is said to look similar to or represent the rising or setting sun, so they were given the name sun bear. Oh and worth noting each sun bears marking is unique to each individual, kind of like our fingerprints are unique to us. This, of course, makes it easy to identify each bear when doing research. The sun bear is also known as the Malayan sun bear, being that it's native to places including Indonesia and Malaysia. They're also called honey bears and dog bears. Now that nickname is thanks to their stocky, muscular build, small ears, and short muzzle. But Rick, when I searched for the phrase dog bear, I came across an interesting animal that lived for more than forty million years, a completely different animal. Rick, Is there any connection between the modern dog bear, more commonly known as the sun bear and this ancient dog bear? Ebany, I see where one might think there is a connection due to the two common names being the same. But let's take a closer look. The extinct ancient dog bear that you referenced first appeared in North America around already two million years ago, not long after the non avian dinosaurs went extinct, in a time where mammals were rapidly diversifying. Some research based on the fossils led many to believe that the ancient dog bear was likely more similar to the modern day bushdog found in South America, but of course much larger. And While some believe this ancient dog bear should be classified with the candid family like coyotes and wolves, others point to a few differences in skeletal structure as evidence that they belong in their very own scientific family. So although the sun bear of today may carry the nickname dog bear, it is a very different species than the extinct ancient dog bear. The sun bear is in the same family as the other bear species, making the sun bear and the ancient dog bear unrelated. The sun bear is sometimes called a dog bear because it is one of the smallest bear species in the bear family. So rick among the bear family, which bears are most closely related to the sun bear, well, I mean, without getting too far into the details of the earth today Emily or bear family, we know from the study of their mitochondria DNA that sun bears diverged from black bears millions of years ago, and it's worth noting brown bears, polar bears, black bears, sloth bears, and our friends of sun bear are all in the same subfamily personate, so it's fair to say there is an ancestral relation amongst those species of bears. The sun there spends a lot of its time up above in the forest trees, and as I've learned from you while working on earlier episodes, that means they're a boreal but Rick. How a boreal are sun bears as in, like, just how much time do they actually spin in the trees? No, they are great tree climbers, emity, and yes, with as much time as they spend in the trees, they are considered to be in a boreal or tree dwelling bear. In fact, they are up in the trees so much they have been given the nickname he who likes to sit high by the local Malayan communities that know the bears behaviors very well. And as far as how much time they spend in the trees, it'd be fair to say quite a bit. They will forage for food in the trees, raid beehives for honey, given the name honey bear right. And they have even been observed making nests or sleeping platforms in the trees out of branches and leaves. And I understand that only about half of the bear species are a boreal. Rick. What adaptations make it possible for the sun bear to balance in the trees and move about above ground? A lot of it has to do with their anatomy and how their body is structured ebony. Remember earlier when I said they are one of the smallest bears in the bear family. Well, that smaller size makes it easier to climb trees. That and they have long, sharp, curved claws that hook into the trees very well. Compare that to the grizzly bear that is much larger and has longer, straighter claws good for digging and tearing open trees. Well, you can definitely see how the sun bear is well suited for life in the trees. Oh and get this, their feet turn in a little too, So while that might look a little odd while they are walking on the ground, this is very help full for climbing trees because it places the feet and claws in the perfect position for the best grip while climbing. And the position of the sun bears eyes are also thought to be something that's helpful. How do they help? The sun bears? Eyes, like humans, are forward facing, now ebody that's not unique to sun bears alone. We see this in many species that rely on the ability to perceive depth of field or have depth perception. After all, when climbing around in the trees, you want to be able to accurately judge the distance to the next branch when you're an arboreal bear. So it sounds like they're really made for climbing. Another interesting trait of these sun bears is it's exceptionally long tongue. How is the sun bear able to take advantage of its remarkably long tongue. Ah, Yes, ebony. Their tongue is impressive and if you should ever see one of them yawn, well, you quickly get an idea of just how long their tongue is. On average, the sun bears tongue is around eight to ten inches long, and they use this tongue to extract honey from beehives and even use it to reach into tight spaces to reach insects and grubs and hollowed out trees and rock crevices. So the idea that bears love honey is actually true when it comes to sun bears. And in addition to like eating honey and you mentioned insects, what all does the sun bear eat well? Like other bears, sun bears are omnivores eveny and yes, their favorite snack is honey, but they'll spend their days in the tropical forest homes foraging for fruit, bird eggs, birds, insects, small mammals, and small reptiles. Like other bear species, they play an important role in their ecosystem, from seed dispersal of the fruits they eat to keeping populations of insects and small animals in balance. It seems like being person in a tree would be more of a solitary activity. Does being a boreal impact social dynamics? Well, eveny they are considered to be a solitary speed cheese, But I'm not sure being our boreal is what's influenced that social dynamic. After all, polar bears are considered solitary as well, and they are definitely not arboreal. The only exception to the sun bears solitary life is when the females have or are raising their young. That said, there have been observations of sun bears congregating to feed from large fruit trees when the fruit ripens, but in all fairness, this behavior is considered a rare behavior and there's no real social dynamic to it so much as, like I said, a congregation or gathering of the bears to eat. Rick. I always love learning about the mother cub relationship. It's endearing to hear how different animals care for their offspring or in some cases not. What's the relationship like between sun bears and their cubs. Interestingly enough, Ebony, there is limited information about the natural maternal behaviors of sun bears. Now we are fortunate that we have had the opportunity to observe the growth and development of four sun bear cubs born at San Diego Zoo. This in an able us to closely study their relationship between mother and offspring and the development of the cub. Mother bears will make nests from leafy vegetation on the ground in a den or even a hollow log. She'll usually give birth to one cub, but they can have two cubs sometimes, and cubs are born hairless and helpless like other bear species, unable to hear or smell, and are completely dependent upon their mother for food, warmth, and protection. Now, sunbear developments kind of interesting. The youngsters are able to start moving around the den or nest area at about two to three months of age and become more active in play at about four to five months of age. They will stay with their mom, learning everything they need to know about being a sunbear for about two years, and then after that well, they head out on their own, enjoying the solitary life of a sun beear Coming up, we'll be talking to Chris Torres, Senior wildlife care specialist with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. That's right after this. Now it's time for the San Diego Zoom Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the Zoo. In May of this year, the San Diego Zoo has announced the birth of an art vark cub, the first to be born at the zoo in more than thirty five years. The female cub was born May tenth to first time ardvark parents, mother Zola and father Azan. Wildlife care specialists have enjoyed watching Zola take great care of her daughter and watching the youngster or cub as baby. Art Barks are known as grow and thrive at the zoo. Did you know sun bears do not hibernate like cold weather bears, probably because their tropical habitat provides food sources year round. And speaking of habitat, the sun bear, black bear, and sloth bear populations have been found in eastern India, making this area the only place in the world where all three kinds of bears are known to coexist. Today, we're going to talk now to someone who knows a great deal about sun bears. He cares for them as a senior wildlife care specialist with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Chris trres Hi, Hey a, any thanks so much for having me today. Can you tell us about the sun bear or the sun bears that are under your care? Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. At the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, we have one female sun bear name Marcella. She is an older female, estimated to be about roughly seven to eight years old. Marcella is a rescued individual, so we don't know her age exactly, but she was transferred to the States back in the year two thousand here at the San Diego Zoo. As you can imagine being a rescued bear, it's possible that she had quite a you know, traumatic background at some point in her life, and we've worked really diligently to make her life as comfortable as possible since she first arrived. Marcella just talked about her a little bit. You know, she's an exceptional sun bear. Not only is she a great ambassador for species, but she's actually the only successfully breeding female in North American zoological facilities over the last few decades. So Over the years, She's had four cubs who have since moved on to other facilities around the country. She's just a very intelligent, you know, a curious bear with a lot of personality. Everybody that works with her would definitely share that sentiment. As a wild life care specialist, what's curR typical day like and what are you looking out for? Yeah, so it's a great question. Being that she is a bear. You know, we're always going to work her in her protected contact setting, so I will always you know, shift her to behind the scenes area while I'm entering her habitat that's visible to the public um and I just try to get in there as much as I can throughout the day, try to keep that environment is stimulating in you know, naturals she would experience because she's moving from one area to the next in her natural habitat. Just trying to keep her behaving like a bear, just trying to promote that as much as possible, and just being you know, a wildlife care specialist. I'm the first line of defense working with the certain individuals day in and day out. We definitely get to know them and know their personality, and we strive to establish a positive relationship through meaningful husbandry and medical based behaviors, and we try to manage them to the best of our ability. But at the end of the day, these are wild animals, and uh, even though we're not going to interact with them the same way you would a you know, a dog or a cat at home, a huge portion of my day still consists of observing, monitoring, recording their behaviors to just like ensure that either overall health is thriving. And sun bears are listed as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The i u c AND estimates sunbar global populations have declined by more than thirty percent over the past three decades. So, Chris, what void does their declining population create in nature? What's the impact to the ecosystems? So, sun bears are key to the health of the rainforce ecosystems which they reside, you know, So a healthy sun bear population is an indicator of a healthy brainforest environments. By consuming and then dispersing the seeds of the plants and the vegetation that they eat, you know, they're continuously spreading seeds to new locations. They're aiding in biodiversity of the forest, so this is really key. They also control and manage insect and termite populations, which is really important for trees. Obviously they do so by eating them. And then they're also really important at you know, mixing up the soil and keeping it very nutrient rich. So a lot more studies need to be going into studying these very elusive bears, but I think I can say without a doubt that they're you know, known vital parts of their ecosystems, and you know, without them, the results could be alarming. And I understand one of the greatest threats to bears overall is the trade of bear bile. What is bear bow and how is its trade impacting bear populations? So yeah, bio is just a liquid substance that you know, is form created in our liver and it's stored in the gall bladder. We have it as humans. You know, it's a key factor in aiding in digestion, you know, breaking down fats and proteins um in the case of sun bears and other bear species asiatic black bears, etcetera. It has been used for thousands of years in traditional Asian medicine. Has high levels of certain substance that have been you know, useful in treating gall bladder and liver conditions and humans. The thing is now we have plenty of readily available synthetic and herbal alternatives with the same beneficial properties. So historically bears were hunted for that bladder and it was used as a prize or like rare commodity. But over the last forty to fifty years that has transitioned a more common practice of farming this bile by keeping the bears in often tiny cages throughout the duration of their life with the sole purpose of you know, extracting the bile from that gall bladder. And the extracting of that bile can be just about as invasive as it sounds, you know, even if an individual is lucky enough to be rescued and be sent to a rehab facility throughout the remainder of their life, the physical the psychological you know, suffering may carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. So what's in place, what's being done to stop this practice? Some key things are simply put it, you need to stop the demand for the beare bile products, and people will stop, you know, capturing and bears, working with local communities who are the ones that are purchasing these products and identify the root cause, you know, education to alternatives. You know, often people are doing this out of absolute necessity, you know, lack of funds, resources, healthcare. Working with governments making it illegal and then enforcing that is key as well establishing these rescue centers that we were just talking about, and you know, overall just protecting their natural habitat. So how does the work that you do in the work of the teams at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo wil Life Alliance as a whole contribute to conservation efforts um to conserve the sundar. Historically, subars have been part of species vival programs, which you've probably discussed here on the show. And you know, we're building up a genetically diverse population here and managed care for the future goals of reintroductions overall, you know, San Diego Zoo WILDLFE for the Alliance were just committed to partners all around the world and nurturing these alliances. You know, we financially support a lot of conservation organizations that are present, you know, on the ground where sun bears are actually living in their natural habitat. I actually had the opportunity to travel to Southeast Asia eight years ago and visit both three the Bears Loud Sanctuary and volunteer for a couple of weeks at their Cambodia sanctuary, and uh, it truly was a life changing experience. Not only did I learned so much about sun bears, but I learned so much about the peoples of the surrounding communities. And they're truly amazing people doing amazing work. And uh, unfortunately, you know, they don't have people walking in their front door every day to get money, so they really depend on you know, private donations, but they also really depend on awesome organizations like the San Diego Zoo to you help them thrive. And we're definitely very proud of that relationship. Now that people know a bit more about the sun bear, what can people do to better co exist with sun bears and bears in general? So the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance recently carried out the Cross Country Research Project in Cambodia to better understand why individuals, you know, in these countries are choosing to purchase vara bile over alternative medicines that we already discussed a little bit, and that research was published and as being used to design campaigns and better marketing to reach you know, a far more effective market presonate more with the consumers in these particular cultures. I truly believe that projects like this are vital to ensuring the survival of the species. So much emphasis is put on you know, direct conservation and protecting those bears, but so much of that is going to come down to working with people within those communities to make a meaningful change. Once you provide like an alternative means of income for families, oftentimes you see lifestyle changes as a result. People don't want a clear cut forests. They don't want to generally you know, trade or wildlife, especially when there's like a connection or a pride to that within their country or their culture. But when it comes to putting food on the table for their families, having access to healthcare, or you know, trading a bear cutting down a tree for a palm oil plantation, Um, what would you do in that situation? You know? So these are things we often take for granted over here, and just always like to reiterate that to people you know, I think if we approach people from empathy and a point of understanding, that's how we're truly gonna make a difference in the conservation realm in my opinion. Chris, Finally, what is your favorite part of being a senior wildlife care specialists with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Yeah. I know I'm just a small part, you know, of a much bigger picture in terms of the conservation work we're providing for the species. But every day I view as responsibility and an opportunity to create meaning in these animals lives and justify why we are managing them in this setting. I you know, I take a ton of pride in seeing the impact that we can make at any given moment, you know, witnessing these natural behaviors. I keep honing in on watching a bear be a bear in a less natural setting, you know, seeing all these hours of interpretation, observation, theoretical work play out into something real when we implement it for that species directly. It's I think it's a beautiful thing. I'm very passionate about that. I love providing the best quality of care for these animals and uh, here at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. You know, we continue to push the envelope and evolve and develop a more contemporary practice, you know, year after year to do just that provide him with the best quality of care. It's been great speaking with you. Thanks for your time. We've been talking to Chris Torres, a senior wildlife care specialist with San Diego Zoo Wildife Alliance. Thanks so much, Thanks so much for having me. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed learning about the smallest bear on Earth, the sun There. Be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which we'll bring you the story of one of the largest bears that will eat anything from fish to small mouth larvae. I'm Ebony Money and I'm Rich Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo Wildlfe Alliance, please visit sdz w a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikkia Swinton and our executive producer is Marcia to Peanut. Our audio engineer and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from My Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.