Gobi bear

"Mazaalai" redirects here. For the Mongolian satellite named after the bear, see Mazaalai (satellite).

Gobi bear
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species:
U. arctos
Subspecies:
U. a. gobiensis
Trinomial name
Ursus arctos gobiensis
Sokolov & Orlov, 1920
Displays the habitat of the Gobi Bear and the location of the desert in Mongolia.

The Gobi bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis), known in Mongolian as the Mazaalai (Мазаалай), is a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) that is found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.[2] It is listed as critically endangered by the Mongolian Redbook of Endangered Species and by IUCN standards.[3] Currently, there are only 31 (95% CI: 32-38) bears left in the Mongolian Gobi Desert; through long-term genetic monitoring it is known that the population is relatively stable, however, the sex ratio is highly skewed towards males.[4] Gobi bears are separated by enough distance from other brown bear populations to achieve reproductive isolation. In 1959, hunting of the animal was prohibited in order to preserve the dying subspecies.[5]

  1. ^ "IUCN Brown Bear subspecies status". Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Tumendemberel, Odbayar; Hendricks, Sarah A.; Hohenlohe, Paul A.; Sullivan, Jack; Zedrosser, Andreas; Sæbø, Mona; Proctor, Michael F.; Koprowski, John L.; Waits, Lisette P. (August 2023). "Range-wide evolutionary relationships and historical demography of brown bears (Ursus arctos) revealed by whole-genome sequencing of isolated central Asian populations". Molecular Ecology. 32 (18): 5156–5169. Bibcode:2023MolEc..32.5156T. doi:10.1111/mec.17091. ISSN 0962-1083. PMID 37528604. S2CID 260375812.
  3. ^ "Ursus arctos". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. doi:10.2305/iucn.uk.2017-1.rlts.t41688a114261661.en.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ecosphere was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ A, Bold (1967). "Mongolian brown bear & Gobi bear-mazaalai". Proceedings of the Institute of Biology. N2: 5–47.