Asian black bear Temporal range:
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At Wrocław Zoo, Poland | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Ursidae |
Genus: | Ursus |
Species: | U. thibetanus
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Binomial name | |
Ursus thibetanus G. Cuvier, 1823
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Subspecies | |
7, see text | |
Asian black bear range in 2016 | |
Synonyms | |
Selenarctos thibetanus |
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also known as the Indian black bear, Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, southeastern Iran, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, Mainland Southeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula, China, the Russian Far East, the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan, and Taiwan. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation and poaching for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicine.