Page 17 - World of Animals - Issue #36

30 amazing facts about bears

There are no

bears in Africa

Bears are found all over the world, but they are
noticeably absent from Africa. It seems strange that
there are no bears here, particularly when the continent
is synonymous with biodiversity and life. But just because
there are no bears present today, it doesn’t mean there
never have been. There used to be a subspecies of
brown bear living in Africa called the atlas bear, but when
the Roman Empire extended down into North Africa,
the atlas bear disappeared soon after. The bears were Black bear
hunted to extinction for both sport and entertainment.
The Romans were known for throwing the bears into Sloth bear
amphitheatres with other large predators, jeering with Spectacled bear
excitement as the animals fought to the death. The
bears were also used as a way to purge society of its Brown bear
criminals, and people convicted of crimes would quickly Polar bear

find themselves face to face with the fearsome animal.
By 1870 the last known individual on the continent was Asian black bear
shot by hunters in Morocco. It is probably no coincidence Sun bear
the species became extinct shortly after the further

development of weaponry and firearms in 1850. Panda bear

Six out of eight
S i x o u t o f e i g h t MOST ENDANGERED
bear species are
bear species are Panda bear
threatened with
threatened with
extinction
extinction Sun bear
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An astonishing 75 per cent of the world’s Asiatic black bear
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timber use. This confi nes bears to a smaller

timber use. This confines bears to a smaller
area, where they must compete for food and
area, where they must compete for food and American black bear facing extinction, largely due to
shelter, resulting in habitats that are able to
shelter, resulting in habitats that are able to
support fewer and fewer animals.
support fewer and fewer animals. LEAST ENDANGERED habitat loss on a global scale”
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