Sloth bears living in seasonally dry tropical moist and broadleaf forests and their conservation

Intro

In the Sri Lankan Tropical dry forests resides the lesser known species of bear, the sloth bear. Sloth bears are a sister species to polar bears and brown bears; however, sloth bears are not as big. Due to evolution, the sloth bear’s morphology is different from other bears. Their mouths and noses are specifically designed to accommodate their eating habits. Unlike most bears, sloth bears eat insects, they are insectivores. Interestingly, their morphology is comparable to that of an anteater. Sloth bears were believed to start consuming insects because of food competition with other species of bears. They had to adapt in order to survive and over time they evolved into insectivores.

Where they live

Sloth bears are specifically located in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The reason for this is because there are geographical barriers, such as deserts and oceans, in India. They tend to stay at the lowlands/foothills of mountain bases. Sloth bears are not found in areas that sun bears and Asiatic black bears inhabit. The other species of bears limit the food resources needed for the survival of the sloth bear. They inhabit almost one third of India’s forested area.

Method

Radio collars were fitted onto twelve sloth bears to track their movements. Other sloth bears were followed independently.

What they eat

Unlike many animals, sloth bears diet composition depends on the environment; their diets are very flexible and they can survive on a few different things. It was discovered that sloth bears eat ripened fruit, ants, termites, and other items (honey, bees, lizard eggs, beetles, beetle dung). The proportion of fruits and insects in their diet also depend on the seasons. During the hot and dry season (March-June): fruit (Diospyros melanoxylon) was 79 percent, ants & termites were 11 percent, other items were 10 percent. During the wet season (July-October): fruit (Cassia Fistula) was 37 percent, ants were 47 percent, termites were 7 percent. During the cold season (November-February): fruit (Ziziphus mauritiana & Lantana camara) was 52 percent, ants were 35 percent, termites were 11 percent. Even though fruit makes up most of sloth bears diets, they still search for insects to eat because insects have the nutrients they need.

What they interact with

Sloth bears cohabitate with dholes and big Asian cats, like tigers and leopards. Tiger and leopards rarely prey on sloth bears. Although, sloth bears and tigers fight very often. The sloth bear is actually on the offensive with their altercations.

Human and Sloth bear interaction history

Sloth bears have been known to raid crops and also attack humans occasionally. Due to this, people have killed sloth bears and it is the biggest factor in sloth bear mortality. In Indian hunting literature, sloth bears are notoriously aggressive. They usually run away in disturbance encounters and if humans are at a relatively great distance (20 meters), but abrupt in abrupt close encounters (3 meters) they have a bipedal display and/or charge. However, when sloth bears attack humans it is on the defensive. Since sloth bears and humans live in close quarters to each other, there have been electric fences put up in Chitwan National park to keep them separate. The reports of sloth bear-human encounters have drastically been reduced. Some Indian states have documented large animal-human casualties and over a 5-year period; out of 1,094 animal attacks, 735 were caused by sloth bears (Wildlife Institute of India Database). There was a positive correlation between sloth bear attacks and increased human use of the forest. 80 percent of the casualties happened in the wet and cold seasons and 20 percent in the dry season. 70 percent of these attacks were in the morning and evening times. About 50 percent of the casualties were cause by mother sloth bears with cubs and groups of sloth bears, the other half was cause by a single bear. In a few places, sloth bears and humans even compete for food, specifically fruit. The sloth bears forage during the wet seasons and that is when farmers are working in the fields.

Although sloth bears are protected by the government, they are still poached and sold to Asian markets for medicinal use. Sloth bear cubs are sometimes captured and put in street shows as “dancing bears”. There have been actions taken place to rehabilitate the sloth bears that were “dancing bears”.

Conservation

Sloth bear conservation heavily depends on their interaction with humans. It is inevitable that they would interact due to the increase in human population, increased forest use by humans, human habitat construction, etc. Due to the government not compensating farmers or people injured by animals like the sloth bear, the only plausible solution would be to kill the animals and other animals that did not cause harm. Conservation efforts get a little more difficult when people fear for their livelihoods/lives, they just simply will not support the conservation of those offending animals.

The goal is to keep the sloth bears in an area where humans do not interact in, rather than constantly removing sloth bears that are found outside of their habitats. If the bears have a good habitat then they will be less likely to want to stray from it and go into the areas with humans. However, there communities of sloth bears that have adapted to foraging in degraded forests and agriculture crops.

It is also highly unrealistic to build a giant wall separating the wildlife from humans, so of course there will have to be policies implemented when it comes to human-sloth bear interactions. This means there has to be a more official way to separate sloth bears, and if need be, relocate them safely if they ever encroach human territory. The government should have trained professionals who know how to deal with the type of situations where a sloth bear is foraging on an agricultural crop. Also, just in case a sloth bear happens to attack a human, there should be some kind of compensation to the person afflicted. This should help decrease the killings of sloth bears.

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