The Malay bear has modest sizes by bear standards and is the smallest bear on earth. He lives in several countries of Asia, climbs trees perfectly and eats completely different foods. Hunts at night, sleeps during the day, and also knows how to build nests.
Who is the Malay Bear?
You can hear about a bear with this name infrequently. All because his habitat is very limited. Malay bears live in the north-eastern part of India, some areas of China, Thailand, Indochina Peninsula and Malacca. Are also found in Indonesia. The subspecies of the Malay bear lives on the island of Borneo.
The body length of this animal is no more than one and a half meters. Height up to 70 centimeters. Despite the modest dimensions by bear standards, the Malay bear is very strong, has a stocky muscular body and very large claws.
Its hair is characterized by short hair length, stiffness and smooth surface. The vast majority of Malay bears have a black color that turns into a yellowish color on the face of the animal.
What is the Malay bear eats?
The diet of a bear is extremely diverse it is omnivorous. But the main part of the food is various insects. Biruang mines bees and termites, digs out earthen worms, catches mice and lizards. One of the features of the Malay bear is an unusual language. It is very long and serves to pull out termites from the passages of their nests, as well as honey from bee hives. This technology of food mining with a long tongue is similar to woodpeckers.
In addition to animal foods, Biruang likes to enjoy vegetable “dishes”. For example, shoots of young plants, roots, all kinds of fruits. Powerful bear teeth allow him to bite even coconuts. Finally, Biruang does not disdain the carrion and often eats what remains after the feasts of tigers.
Life of the Malay Bear
The Malay bear spends almost all the time on the trees. Strong strong paws and huge, bent down, claws allow him to freely climb the branches. An interesting feature of Biruang is the ability to create peculiar “nests” from leaves and branches. In them, the bear spends the daytime, staring in the sun. The period of hunting begins with the onset of darkness.
Malay bear is very secretive to life. It is not so easy to see, especially when you consider that there are few such bears on the planet. At one time, a person caused a great damage to the Biruang population, obtaining their skins, the gall bladder and the heart used in traditional Asian medicine. At the moment, Biruang is listed in the Red Book.
The Malay bear, despite his purely wild existence, nevertheless, can live in captivity. In some countries of Asia there are real domesticated biruangs. They quickly adapt to new conditions and are able to live up to 25 years in captivity.
Biruang is often considered one of the most dangerous bears in the world, since, with a slight growth, it is distinguished by a ferocious character and excellent fighting qualities. However, the Asians consider it differently and even successfully train biruangs. Versed in the habits of this bear, they tame it, as a result of which entire farms are formed.
Biruang an animal of the Red Book
Nevertheless, Biruang remains the smallest type of bear on the planet and requires comprehensive protection from human extermination. In addition to restricting hunting, it is also greatly required to maintain its natural habitat trees and thickets in the habitat. Since often it is the destruction of forests that leads to the delayed disappearance of entire species of wild animals and birds.
