MAMMAL MONDAY # 32

MAMMAL MONDAY # 32

Happy Happy Monday! Monday is everyone least favorite day of the week, but it is one of our favorites, because we get to meet a new mammal! We’re traveling to Southeast Asia today to meet a very handsome bear with a funny long tongue! Grab your gear we’re heading into the rainforest!

MEET THE SUN BEAR!

    Range/Habitat: Southeast Asia/ rainforest

    Diet: Omnivore: fruit, shoots, eggs, honey, termites

    Length/Weight: 3 ½-4 ½ ft/ 110-145 lbs

    Conservation Status: endangered

Fun Facts:

• Sun bears are also called the dog bear or honey bear.
• They have sleek, smooth brown-black fur with a white-orangeish “sun” patch on their chest.
• They have very loose skin around their neck.
• Sun bears are the smallest member of the bear family.
• They have very long claws for climbing and digging for insects and honey.
• Sun bears have very long tongues that they can extend up to 10”. They use these tongues to get termites and honey.
• Sun bears are nocturnal (active at night).
• They spend most of their time in trees.

Sun bears are just so adorable. They are endangered mainly due to habitat loss. There are lots of things that we can do to ensure our rainforests are kept intact. We love The Rainforest Site, because all you have to do is click once a day and money goes to save habitat for great animals such as our Sun Bear pal!