Spectacled bear Temporal range: Pleistocene – Recent
Late | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Ursidae |
Genus: | Tremarctos |
Species: | T. ornatus
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Binomial name | |
Tremarctos ornatus (Cuvier, 1825)
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Spectacled bear range | |
Synonyms | |
Ursus ornatus Cuvier, 1825 |
The spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), also known as the South American bear, Andean bear, Andean short-faced bear or mountain bear and locally as jukumari (Aymara and Quechua[3]), ukumari (Quechua) or ukuku, is a species of bear native to the Andes Mountains in northern and western South America. It is the only living species of bear native to South America, and the last remaining short-faced bear (subfamily Tremarctinae). Its closest relatives are the extinct Tremarctos floridanus,[4] and the giant short-faced bears (Arctodus and Arctotherium), which became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene around 12,000 years ago.[5][6] Unlike other omnivorous bears, the diet of the spectacled bear is mostly herbivorous. The species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN because of habitat loss.