The things you should know about “Ursidae”!
There are a total of 8 types of Ursidae in the world. Bears are distributed all around the world, except for Australia, Africa and Antarctica). With the exception of Ursus americanus and brown bears, the population 6 types of bears are currently classified as threatened.
Do you know how many types of Ursidae are there in the world?
There are a total of 8 types of Ursidae inthe world.
Do you know the places where bears cannot be found?
Ursidae classification
Ailuropoda
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Bearcat: vulnerable species (VU)
Tremarctos Ornatus
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Spectacled Bear: vulnerable species (VU)
Ursus
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Ursus americanus
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Melursus ursinus: vulnerable species (VU)
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Helarctos malayanus: vulnerable species (VU)
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Ursus thibetanus: vulnerable species (VU)
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Polar bear: vulnerable species (VU)
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Brown bear
Ursus thibetanus
Currently there are 7 Ursus thibetanus sub-species distributed around 18 countries in Asia.
Picture source: Taiwan Black Bear Conservation Association (TBBCA) website
Ursus thibetanus formosanus/Formosan black bear
The Formosan black bear is one of the 7 sub-species of Ursus thibetanus. It is the only bear species originated from Taiwan and is being listed as an endangered wildlife species.
Emergence of Formosan black bear
49 days old
2 months old
The Formosan black bear reproduces biannually. Each time they give birth to 1-2 bears.
Usually, the baby bear follows the mother to learn and recognize the food that they can eat while the mother gives their baby protection before one year old
The Formosan black bear matures at 3-4 years of age. Their metoestrus period occurs between June to August and the pregnancy period lasts 6-7 months. The mother bears usually give birth to a baby between December to February of the next year. Each time they give birth to 1-3 young bears. Their lactation period is approximately half a year.
Geographical distribution of Formosan black bear
The Formosan black bear are forest animals that are widely distributed in the Central Ra. The most suitable growth environment is the forests situated in the altitude between 1,000-2,500m.
The red grid cells are 1,017 black bear activity records that were collected since 1990 (source: Mei-Hsiu Huang et.al., 2012)
The research data of the Yushan National Park wireless communication follow-up had revealed that the Formosan black bears were mainly active during the day, with peak activity at dusk. During Autumn and Winter, where food is more abundant, they will be active for the whole day.
The wireless communication follow-up data from 2000 had indicated that the activity range of the Formosan black bear was approximately between 24-117 square kilometers (Mei-Hsiu Huang, 2003)
Between 2014-2016, the follow-up of the Formosan black bear activity range using man-made satellite was between 29.6-558.3 square kilometers. The entire activity range were distributed in the Laklak River area (Tzu-Wei Yeh, 2020)
What do Formosan black bears eat？
The Formosan black bear is Omnivorous, with more than 80% of their food coming from plants and the remaining 20 % were animals or insects.
During Spring and Summer, they usually feast on berries, sprouts, roots and tree leaves. During Autumn and Winter, they feed on nuts as their main staple. Occasionally they hunt for goat, Reeves' muntjac or search for honey, ants’ nest, carrion and so forth.
How many Formosan black bear are there remaining in Taiwan?
There are only 200-600 bears remaining
There are only 200-600 Formosan black bears remaining in Taiwan. The animals are listed as among the endangered protected species according to the “Wildlife Conservation Act”. Threats which Formosan black bears are faced with: Illegal hunting, trading, fragmentation of their habitat, land exploitation for recreation and so forth.
