Bear Facts 7

 Bears have a good sense of memory.

In particular, bears remember places where they can find plenty of food, and how to get there. This means that even if a bear wanders away, they have a good chance of coming back to where they know there’s plenty of food for them.

Bears have a simple digestive system.

Unlike mammals of similar sizes like the cow, bears only have one stomach. Bear intestines are also very short and undifferentiated, which limits the amount of nutrition they can get from their food.

Because of this, bears must eat a lot of food in a single day to maintain their bodies. Generally, bears have to eat more if their diet is limited to plants. Pandas, for example, spend 12 to 15 hours in a single day eating just to get enough energy and nutrition to stay healthy.

Most bears live in the Northern Hemisphere.

You can find bears in 60 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. However, the spectacled bear only lives in the Andes Mountains of South America. Sun bears also live across Southeast Asia, while the extinct Atlas bear once lived in North Africa until the late-19th Century.

Some bears usually stay awake in the day.

Of all bear species, the brown bear and the American black bear are the resident morning persons, though they may still hunt at night. All other bear species are nocturnal, though there are still cases where they look for food in the day.

The female sloth bear stays awake in the day when she has cubs to look out for, as it’s easier to find food at day than at night.

Bears aren’t social animals.

Despite what popular fiction suggests, bears prefer to stay alone. Because of this, bears also tend to get extremely territorial, attacking anything that enters their turf.

The only exception to this loner tendency of bears is when a female bear gives birth to cubs. Even then, the mother bear only tolerates her cubs’ presence until they grow into adults themselves. How’s that for relatable bear facts?