(I wont be around for the weekend due to med school business. AOTD will be back on Monday! See you then! Try not to miss me! Huhuhuhu no one will miss me. T___T) TREVORS ANIMAL OF THE DAY (BEAR WEEK!) MAY 15, 2014 Tremarctos ornatus. For our last bear for Bear Week, we have the spectacled bear. They are the ONLY surviving bear species that is native to South America and the only extant member of the bear subfamily Tremarctinae or short-faced bears. The spectacled bear ranges from up north in eastern Panama and snaking all the way down the Andes. Because of their native range of the Andes, they are often also called the Andean Bear. The spectacled bear is the largest carnivore in South America, with males weighing up to 200 kg (440 lb). Their fur is mostly black, with distinct patterns of cream coloring across their face and chest, often called spectacle markings due to them resembling a pair of spectacles. However, not all spectacled bears exhibit this pattern of fur coloring. The species epithet ornatus is Latin for decorated, and is named after this distinct coloring. They have a weird anatomical feature, an unusual hole in the bears humerus or upper arm bone, hence the trem in their genus name which means hole in Greek. All in all, their scientific name means decorated bear with a hole. Its classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List mostly due to extensive logging and habitat destruction. FUN FACTS! 1. Though it is the largest carnivore in South America, its not an obligate carnivore, with just around 5% of its diet being actual meat. The largest obligate carnivore in South America is the jaguar (Panthera onca). The only other bear more herbivorous than the spectacled bear is none other than the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) 2. British actor and comedian Stephen Fry has a love affair with the spectacled bear. In the documentary Paddington Bear: The Early Years, he encounters a spectacled bear named Yogi being held captive in a small cage by Andean villagers. He bartered with them to have the bear released and Yogi now lives in an enclosure near Machu Picchu. Fry also wrote about his experiences with this special species of bear in his book Rescuing the Spectacled Bear: A Peruvian Diary. #animals #bear #andes
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 11:44:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015