Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: What scientific name does the Asian Black bear have?
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus, previously known as Selenarctos thibetanus), also known as the moon bear and the white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia and largely adapted to arboreal life.[2][3] It lives in the Himalayas, in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, Korea, northeastern China, the Russian Far East, the Honshū and Shikoku islands of Japan, and Taiwan. It is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly because of deforestation and hunting for its body parts.[1]
Along with sun bears, Asiatic black bears are the most typically used species in areas where bears are either used in performances or as pets.[67] Asian black bears have an outstanding learning ability in captivity, and are among the most common species used in circus acts.[68] According to Gary Brown:
The Himalayan black bear is a savage animal, sometimes attacking without provocation, and inflicting horrible wounds, attacking generally the head and face with their claws, while using their teeth also on a prostrate victim. It is not uncommon to see men who have been terribly mutilated, some having the scalp torn from the head, and many sportsmen have been killed by these bears.
Afro-Asians or African-Asians (also known as Black Asians or Blasians), are persons of mixed African and Asian ancestry. Historically, Afro-Asian populations have been marginalized as a result of human migration and social conflict. The term Black Asian may also be used to describe Negritos (blacks indigenous to Asia); therefore Afro-Asian is a more scientifically proper term to describe Black Asians with direct African background or ancestry.
The ancestors of American black bears and Asian black bears diverged from sun bears 4.58 mya. The American black bear then split from the Asian black bear 4.08 mya. The earliest American black bear fossils, which were located in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, greatly resemble the Asian species, though later specimens grew to sizes comparable to grizzly bears. From the Holocene to the present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in size, but this has been disputed because of problems with dating these fossil specimens.
Asiatic black bears have been hunted for their parts in China since the Stone Age.[45] Bile is most appreciated as it supposedly cures many diseases, effectively treats the accumulation of blood below the skin, and counters toxic effects. Also, bear bone glue is used as a tonic, and bear fat is also used as a traditional medicine and a tonic. Black bear meat is also edible. Due to their many uses black bears are worth about 20–30 million dong (US$1,500–2,250) each in Vietnam.[15]
In response to a chapter on black bears written by Robert Armitage Sterndale in his Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon on how black bears were no more dangerous than other animals in India, a reader responded with a letter to The Asian on May 11, 1880:[52]
The Baluchistan black bear ("Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus"), also called the Pakistan black bear is a subspecies of the Asian black bear occurring in the Baluchistan Mountains of southern Pakistan and Iran. It has an unusually thin coat for an Asian black bear, but this is because it is found in a warmer climate than most of the other subspecies, which are found in the much colder Himalayan Mountains. It is also more frugivorous than the other subspecies, and it loves to eat figs and bananas.
Tigers will occasionally prey on black bears. Russian hunters may occasionally find black bear carcasses showing evidence of tiger predation, and their remains may occur in tiger scats. If they manage to escape a tiger, black bears will attempt to rush up a tree and wait for the tiger to leave, though some tigers will pretend to leave, and wait for the bear to descend.[40] One Manchurian tiger was reported to have lured an Asiatic black bear by imitating the species' mating call.[27] Tigers regularly prey on young bears but adult bears are occasionally taken as well.[40] Black bears are usually safe from tiger attacks once they reach five years of age.[41] Although black bears prefer to avoid tigers, they can be extremely tenacious when attacked: Jim Corbett observed a fight between a tiger and the largest black bear he had ever seen, which resulted in the bear managing to chase off the tiger, despite having half its nose and scalp torn off.[42] However, black bears may be less vulnerable than brown bears to tiger predation, due to their habit of living in hollows or in close set rocks, thus making them harder to pursue.[35] At least one fatal attack on a juvenile bear has been recorded in Jigme Dorji National Park, as Bhutan's tiger populations have begun to colonise higher altitude areas.[41] Black bears may steal tiger kills: Jim Corbett twice saw black bears carry off tiger kills when the latter was absent.[41][42]
The fossil record indicates that black bears once ranged as far west as Germany and France, though the species now occurs very patchily throughout its former range, which is now limited to the Asian continent. Black bears occupy a narrow band from southeastern Iran eastward through Afghanistan and Pakistan, across the foothills of the Himalayas in India, to Myanmar. With the exception of Malaysia, black bears occur in all countries in mainland Southeast Asia. They are absent from much of east-central China, though they have a patchy distribution in the southern and northeastern part of the country. Other population clusters exist in the southern Russian Far East and into North Korea. South Korea has a small remnant population. Black bears also occur in Japan's islands of Honshu and Shikoku and on Taiwan and Hainan.[37]
The fur is soft, with dense underfur and long, coarse, thick guard hairs. The fur is not as shaggy or coarse as that of brown bears. American black bear skins can be distinguished from those of Asian black bears by the lack of a white blaze on the chest and hairier footpads. Despite their name, American black bears show a great deal of color variation. Individual coat colors can range from white, blonde, cinnamon, light brown or dark chocolate brown to jet black, with many intermediate variations existing. Silvery-gray American black bears with a blue luster (this is found mostly on the flanks) occur along a portion of coastal Alaska and British Columbia. White to cream-colored American black bears occur in the coastal islands and the adjacent mainland of southwestern British Columbia. Albino specimens have also been recorded. Black coats tend to predominate in moist areas such as Maine, New York, Tennessee, Michigan and western Washington. Approximately 70% of all American black bears are black, though only 50% of American black bears in the Rocky Mountains are black. Many American black bears in northwestern North America are cinnamon, blonde or light brown in color and thus may sometimes be mistaken for grizzly bears. Grizzly (and other types of brown) bears can be distinguished by their shoulder hump, larger size and broader, more concave skull.
Asiatic black bears are similar in general appearance to brown bears, but are more lightly built and are more slender limbed. The lips and nose are larger and more mobile than those of brown bears. The skulls of Asiatic black bears are relatively small, but massive, particularly in the lower jaw. Adult males have skulls measuring 311.7 to 328mm (12.27 to 12.91in) in length and 199.5–228mm (7.85–8.98in) in width, while female skulls are 291.6–315mm (11.48–12.40in) long and 163–173mm (6.4–6.8in) wide. Compared to other bears of the genus Ursus, the projections of the skull are weakly developed; the sagittal crest is low and short, even in old specimens, and does not exceed more than 19–20% of the total length of the skull, unlike in brown bears, which have sagittal crests comprising up to 41% of the skull's length.[3]
In India, attacks on humans have been increasing yearly, and have occurred largely in the northwestern and western Himalayan region. In the Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, the number of black bear attacks on humans have gradually increased from 10 in 1988–89 to 21 in 1991–92. There are no records of predation on humans by Asian black bears in Russia and no conflicts have been documented in Taiwan.[15] Recent bear attacks on humans have been reported from Junbesi in Langtang National Park, Nepal, and occurred in villages as well as in the surrounding forest.[55]
Black bears occur as an infrequent species in the Red Data Book of Russia, thus falling under special protection and hunting is prohibited. There is currently a strong movement to legalize the hunting of Russian black bears, which is supported by most of the local scientific community.[15]
Amur tigers regularly prey on young bears and sub-adult brown bears. Reports of preying on fully grown small female adult Ussuri brown bears by a big male tiger are common as well. Predation by tigers on denned brown bears was not detected during a study carried between 1993 and 2002. Ussuri brown bears, along with the smaller Asian black bears constitute 2.1% of the Siberian tiger's annual diet, of which 1.4% are brown bears. Certain tigers have been reported to imitate the calls of Asian black bears to attract them.
Bear Creek Pioneers Park gets its name from one of the creeks (i.e., Bear Creek) that flow through the area. Actually, Langham Creek virtually bisects the entire park. When East Texas was first settled, the Louisiana black bear ("Ursus americanus luteolus") was common and widespread. Today though, despite the name of the creek and park, there are none in the area. Bears disappeared from the Houston vicinity by the late 1800s. No bears are kept at the park's wildlife habitat. So, what might have been named Langham Creek Pioneers Park was named Bear Creek Pioneers Park. Sounds lots more exciting than does Langham Creek Park.
Although black bears have been afforded protection in Russia since 1983, illegal poaching, fuelled by a growing demand for bear parts in the Asian market, is still a major threat to the Russian population. Many workers of Chinese and Korean origin, supposedly employed in the timber industry, are actually involved in the illegal trade. Some Russian sailors reportedly purchase bear parts from local hunters to sell them to Japanese and Southeast Asian clients. Russia's rapidly growing timber industry has been a serious threat to the Asiatic black bear's home range for three decades. The cutting of trees containing cavities deprives black bears of their main source of dens, and forces them to den on the ground or in rocks, thus making them more vulnerable to tigers, brown bears and hunters.[15]
Brown bears typically dominate wolf packs in disputes over carcasses, while wolf packs mostly prevail against bears when defending their den sites. Both species kill each other's young. Wolves eat the brown bears they kill, while brown bears seem to only eat young wolves. Wolf interactions with American black bears are much rarer than with brown bears, because of differences in habitat preferences. The majority of black bear encounters with wolves occur in the species' northern range, with no interactions being recorded in Mexico. Wolves have been recorded on numerous occasions to actively seek out black bears in their dens and kill them without eating them. Unlike brown bears, black bears frequently lose against wolves in disputes over kills. While encounters with brown and black bears appear to be common, polar bears are rarely encountered by wolves, though there are two records of wolf packs killing polar bear cubs. Wolves also kill the cubs of Asian black bears.
Within Sikhote-Alin, the breeding season of black bears occurs earlier than in brown bears, starting from mid June to mid August. Birth also occurs earlier, in mid January. By October, the uterine horns of pregnant females grow to 15–22 millimetres (0.59–0.87in). By late December, the embryos weigh 75grams.[3] Sows generally have their first litter at the age of three years.[15] Pregnant females generally make up 14% of populations. Similar to brown bears, Asiatic black bears have delayed implantation.[15] Sows usually give birth in caves or hollow trees in winter or early spring after a gestation period of 200–240 days. Cubs weigh 13 ounces at birth, and will begin walking at four days of age, and open their eyes three days later.[27] The skulls of newborn black bear cubs bear great resemblance to those of adult sun bears.[3] Litters can consist of 1–4 cubs, with 2 being the average.[27] Cubs have a slow growth rate, reaching only 2.5kg by May.[3] Black bear cubs will nurse for 104–130 weeks, and become independent at 24–36 months. There is usually a 2–3 year interval period before females produce subsequent litters.[27] The average lifespan in the wild is 25 years, while the oldest Asian black bear in captivity died at the age of 44.[4]
Biologically and morphologically, Asiatic black bears represent the beginning of the arboreal specializations attained by sloth bears and sun bears.[3] Asiatic black bears have karyotypes nearly identical to those of the five other ursine bears, and, as is typical in the genus, they have 74 chromosomes.[15] From an evolutionary perspective, Asiatic black bears are the least changed of Old World bears, with certain scientists arguing that it is likely that all other lineages of ursine bear stem from this species.[2] Scientists have proposed that Asiatic black bears are either a surviving, albeit modified, form of Ursus etruscus, specifically the early, small variety of the Middle Villafranchian (Upper Pliocene to Lower Pleistocene)[16] or a larger form of Ursus minimus, an extinct species that arose 4,000,000 years ago. With the exception of the age of the bones, it is often difficult to distinguish the remains of Ursus minimus with those of modern Asiatic black bears.[2]
Li Guoxing, the second person in history to have received a facial transplant, was a victim of a black bear attack.[56][57] Nine people were killed by black bears in Japan between 1979–1989.[50] In September 2009, a black bear attacked a group of tourists, mauling nine people[58] and seriously injuring four at a bus station in the built-up area of Takayama, Gifu.[59] The majority of attacks tend to occur when black bears are encountered suddenly, and in close quarters. Because of this, black bears are generally considered more dangerous than brown bears, which live in more open spaces and are thus less likely to be surprised by approaching humans.[60] They are also likely to attack when protecting food.[27]
Although mostly herbivorous, the jaw structure of Asiatic black bears is not as specialized for plant eating as that of pandas: Asian black bears have much narrower zygomatic arches, and the weight ratio of the two pterygoid muscles is also much smaller in Asian black bears. The lateral slips of the temporal muscles are thicker and stronger in black bears.[7]
A recent study found genetic evidence of multiple instances and species combinations where genetic material has passed the species boundary in bears (a process called introgression by geneticists). Specifically, species with evidence of past intermingling were (1) brown bear and American black bear, (2) brown bear and polar bear, (3) American black bear and Asian black bear, (4) bears currently distributed in Asia (sloth bear, sun bear and Asian black bear). Overall, this study shows that evolution in the bear family (Ursidae) has not been strictly bifurcating, but instead showed complex evolutionary relationships.
A black bear with broken hind legs can still climb effectively. In contrast to polar bears, Asiatic black bears have powerful upper bodies for climbing trees, and relatively weak hind legs which are shorter than those in brown bears and American black bears.[3][4] They are the most bipedal of all bears, and have been known to walk upright for over a quarter mile.[8] The heel pads on the forefeet are larger than those of most other bear species. Their claws, which are primarily used for climbing and digging, are slightly longer on the fore foot (30–45mm) than the back (18–36mm),[9] and are larger and more hooked than those of the American black bear.
American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species and have occasionally produced hybrid offspring. According to Jack Hanna's "Monkeys on the Interstate", a bear captured in Sanford, Florida, was thought to have been the offspring of an escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear. In 1859, an American black bear and a Eurasian brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens, but the three cubs that were born died before they reached maturity. In "The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication", Charles Darwin noted: