Bear Facts 6

 Bears prefer to eat younger plants.

In forest habitats, the typical bear diet consists of shoots, saplings, seeds, and nuts. Bears can digest younger plant life much easier than older plants, providing them with more nutrition as well. Definitely one of the more interesting bear facts.

Sloth bears also eat plenty of insects.

Not to be confused with the lazy animals of their namesake, sloth bears actively hunt insects using sticky tongues similar to that of anteaters. Their diet includes ants, termites, as well as other burrowing insects.

They also eat wasps and bees, building a resistance to insect stings to reach the honey and larvae inside hives. Scientists estimate that depending on the time of the year, insects can make up to 90% of a sloth bear’s diet.

Spectacled bears have a special evolution of their own.

No, they didn’t evolve with trendy eyewear. Instead, spectacled bears have jaws and teeth specially equipped to handle bromeliads like pineapples. Spectacled bears can easily split open their tough exteriors to eat the juicy innards.

Scientists estimate that up to 50% of a spectacled bear’s diet comes out of fruit. Now there’s a sweet example of bear facts.

Bears have their own preferences when they come to fish.

Believe it or not, having good taste is one of many bear facts out there. Some bears prefer to eat a certain type of fish, such as grizzly bears’ love for salmon. Much like how you could prefer wings over drumsticks or vice versa, bears also prefer to eat fish brains and eggs.

Bears usually build their own dens.

Bears make their dens using their claws to burrow out enough space for themselves, before using logs to hide their dens. However, bears may also use naturally-occurring caves or crevices as dens instead of building their own.

The IUCN classifies most bear species as vulnerable.

Both the brown bear and the American black bear enjoy the status of Least Concern. However, the IUCN classifies five of the other 6 bear species as Vulnerable. Human activity threatens the polar bear, Asian black bear, sun bear, sloth bear, and spectacled bear’s numbers.

Unfortunately, the panda bear holds the status of Endangered, which makes them the closest to extinction of all bear species.