With the alias of Black Bear, it belongs to the Ursidae family of Carnivora order. Its scientific name is Helarctos malayanus (Latin) or Sun Bear (English).
It has the smallest size among all kinds of bears, with about 100 centimeters in length and 50 kilograms in weight. Its obese body has a short neck, a short and round head, with small eyes, bare and hairless nose and lips, small ears, and broad collum. It is covered with short and sparse hair all over, jet-black and smooth. Periphery of the nose and lip is brown, and rim of the eyes is taupe. There is one tan horseshoe-shaped spot on the chest, in the middle of which is one hair whorl. On the two shoulders are symmetrical hair whorls. And the toe basal parts are connected with short webs.
It inhabits in tropical rain forests, subtropical rain forests or monsoon forests, expert in climbing trees. It's used to move about at night while in the daytime climbing up on trees two to seven meters up the ground, sleeping or basking. It needs no hibernation. It is a polyphagous animal, feeding on different kinds of humblebee larvae, honey, termites, plants and berries, as well as minitype vertebrates. In general, its gestation period lasts about 95 days, sometimes its oosperm delays nidation, and hence the gestation as long as 240 days. It has 1 to 2 babies per fetus, and the new-born weighs about 300 grams. Under breeding condition, it can have the utmost lifespan of 24.9 months.
In 1972, it was found for the first time in border upland of southern Yunnan Province, but with only a small quantity. It has been listed in Appendix I ofInternational Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animal and Plant Species.
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