The Malay bear is modest by bear standards and is the smallest bear on Earth. It lives in several Asian countries, climbs trees beautifully and eats a wide variety of foods. It hunts at night, sleeps during the day, and can also build a nest.
What is a Malay bear?
You do not often hear about the bear with such a name. That’s because its habitat is very limited. Malay bears live in northeastern India, parts of China, Thailand, the Indochina Peninsula and Malacca. Can also be found in Indonesia. A subspecies of the Malay bear lives on the island of Borneo.
The body length of this animal – no more than 1.5 meters. Height – up to 70 centimeters. Despite its modest size by bear standards, the Malay bear is very strong, has a stocky, muscular body and very large claws.
Its coat is characterized by its short hair length, stiffness, and smooth surface. The vast majority of Malay bears are black in color, which changes to a yellowish color on the animal’s muzzle.
What does the Malayan bear eat?
The diet of the bear is extremely diverse – it is omnivorous. But the main part of the food is a variety of insects. Biruang preys bees and termites, digs earthworms, catches mice and lizards. One of the peculiarities of the Malay bear is its unusual tongue. It is very long and serves to pull termites out of their nest holes as well as honey from bee hives. This technique of extracting food with its long tongue is similar to that of woodpeckers.
In addition to animal food, biruang like to eat plant “food”. For example, shoots of young plants, roots, all kinds of fruits. The bear’s powerful teeth allow him to bite even coconuts. Finally, biruang is not squeamish about carrion and often finishes what is left after tigers’ feasts.
Lifestyle of a Malay bear
The Malay bear spends almost all its time in the trees. Strong strong paws and huge, curved downward claws allow it to freely climb branches. An interesting feature of the biruang is its ability to create a kind of “nest” out of leaves and branches. In them the bear spends the daytime, basking in the sun. The hunting season begins when darkness falls.
The Malay bear is a very secretive animal. It’s not easy to see, especially considering that there are few bears of this kind left on the planet. At one time, humans did a lot of damage to the biruang population by harvesting their skins, gallbladder and heart, which are used in traditional Asian medicine. Currently, the biruang is listed in the Red Book.
The Malayan bear, despite its purely wild existence, can nevertheless live in captivity. In some Asian countries there are real domesticated biruangs. They adapt quickly to new conditions and are capable of living in captivity for up to 25 years.
The biruang is often considered one of the most dangerous bears in the world, because, despite its small stature, it has a ferocious character and excellent fighting qualities. However, Asians think differently and even successfully train Birwangs. By understanding the habits of this bear, they tame it, resulting in the formation of entire farms.
Biruang – a Red Book animal
Nevertheless, the biruang remains the smallest bear species on the planet and requires comprehensive protection from human extermination. In addition to limiting hunting, its natural habitat – the trees and thickets in its habitat – is also badly in need of protection. Since it is often the destruction of forests that leads to the delayed extinction of entire species of wild animals and birds.
