Ursidae (bears)

Ursidae
There are 8 species of bears in this family. They are found in all parts of the world, except Antarctica and Australia. They are found in a wide-variety of habitats including deserts, grasslands, tundra, forests, mountains, and ice floes. They are large animals and have small, rounded ears; pointed snouts; small eyes; and short tails. They have large paws with five strong claws that they use for digging, climbing, and catching their prey. Bears can stand and walk on their hind legs. Many species can climb trees and swim.

American Black Bear

Ursidae General Resources
Ailuropoda (giant panda)
Helarctos (sun bear)

Melursus (sloth bear)
Tremarctos (spectacled bear)
Ursus (black bears, brown bear, polar bear)

Ursidae General Resources

Ursidae
Bears are found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia, but are primarily found throughout the northern hemisphere.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

The Bears Among Us
Learn more about bear species found around the world and what is being done to save them.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Ailuropoda (giant panda)

Giant Panda
Bamboo is the most important plant in a giant panda's life.
Source: San Diego Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
There are only around 1,000 giant pandas in the wild.
Source: National Geographic Kids Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
Giant pandas are solitary animals.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
Pandas are found mostly in thick bamboo and coniferous forests at 8,500 to 11,500 feet in elevation.
Source: Defenders of Wildlife Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
Giant pandas are about five feet long from nose to rump, with a four to six inch tail.
Source: WWF Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
Giant pandas might be cute, but they are just a dangerous as any other species of bear.
Source: Zoo Atlanta Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Giant Panda
Giant pandas are found in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi in the central part of China.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Helarctos (sun bear)

Sun Bear
The sun bear gets its name from a bib-shaped patch of yellow fur on its chest.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
The sun bear is also known as the Malayan sun bear, the dog bear, or the honey bear.
Source: National Geographic Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
Sun bears have short fur, a long tongue, and a short-haired gray or orange muzzle.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
Sun bears are nocturnal. They spend the day napping or sunbathing in the trees.
Source: Oregon Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
Sun bears have long sickle-shaped claws on all four feet that help them move around in trees.
Source: Honolulu Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
The sun bear is found from the eastern Himalayas to Szechuan in China, then southward throughout Myanmar, parts of Indochina and the Malayan peninsula.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sun Bear
Sun bears eat fruit, tender palm tips, insects, birds and small mammals.
Source: St. Louis Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Melursus (sloth bear)

Sloth Bear
Insects make up a large part of the sloth bear's diet.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sloth Bear
Sloth bears have shaggy, dusty-black coats, pale, short-haired muzzles, and long, curved claws that they use to dig out ants and termites.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Sloth Bear
Sloth bears are found throughout India, Sri Lanka, and further north into Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Tremarctos (spectacled bear)

Spectacled Bear
Spectacled bears are found in dense forests.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Spectacled Bear
Spectacled bears have shaggy black, brown, or cinnamon fur.
Source: National Geographic Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Spectacled Bear
Spectacled bears are the only bears to live in South America. Spectacled bears live along the slopes of the Andes mountains from Venezuela to Peru.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Spectacled Bear
The spectacled bear is also known as the Andean bear.
Source: Philadelphia Zoo Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Spectacled Bear
The spectacled bear is an omnivore, but a large part of its diet is made up of plants including fruits, palms stalks, bamboo shoots, bromeliad bulbs, and cactus fruit.
Source: Phoenix Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No

Spectacled Bear
Spectacled bears build nests in tree branches for sleeping.
Source: St. Louis Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Ursus (black bears, brown bear, polar bear)

American Black Bear
American black bears have long tongues that they use to scoop up berries and grubs and insects.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

American Black Bear
American black bears may travel as much as 20 miles in search of food.
Source: Jacksonville Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No

American Black Bear
American black bears are usually dark brown to black with a paler muzzle.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

American Black Bear
The American black bear is found from northern Alaska east across Canada to Labrador and Newfoundland, and south through much of Alaska, virtually all of Canada, and most of the U.S. into central Mexico
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

American Black Bear
The American black bear is the smallest of the three bears species found in North America
Source: Defenders of Wildlife Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

American Black Bear
Black Bears are good swimmers and can also climb trees.
Source: Enchanted Learning Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Asiatic Black Bear
Asiatic Black Bears are omnivorous and will eat things like termites, acorns, tree sap, invertebrates, carrion, fish and fruit.
Source: Philadelphia Zoo Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Asiatic Black Bear
Asiatic black bears have a stocky body, round head and large ears. They have a shaggy black coat with a ruff of longer hairs around the neck and a light beige to white “V” shape on their chest.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Asiatic Black Bear
Asiatic black bears have a disjointed range. In south Asia, they are found from Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, and Bhutan east to Vietnam and northeast China. To the north, they live in southeast Russia, on Taiwan, and on the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Asiatic Black Bear
Asiatic black bears live in moist forests, on steep mountains, and in areas where the vegetation is thick.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears can run at speeds of 30 miles per hour.
Source: National Geographic Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears can eat 90 pounds of food in a day.
Source: National Geographic Kids Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
The brown bear is also known as the grizzly bear.
Source: NHPTV Wildlife Journal Junior Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No

Brown Bear
Brown bears come in a variety of shades, from a light cream color to almost black.
Source: San Diego Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
The brown bear has a humped back.
Source: National Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears are found in in the northern forests of North America, Europe, and Asia.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears are usually brown but they can also vary in color from cream to almost black.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears have an exceptionally acute sense of smell, exceeding that of dogs.
Source: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Brown Bear
Brown bears can be up to 7 feet long and weigh up to 1,500 pounds.
Source: Enchanted Learning Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Polar Bear
Scientists believe that the polar bear evolved about 200,000 years ago from brown bear ancestors.
Source: Polar Bear International Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Even though polar bears look white, their hair is really made of clear, hollow tubes filled with air.
Source: San Diego Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears travel over sea ice to hunt seals.
Source: National Geographic Kids Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears have fur on the bottom of their paws that help keep them warm and help keep them from sliding on the ice.
Source: National Geographic Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears have a layer of fat up to 4.3 inches thick that keeps them warm, especially while swimming.
Source: WWF Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears can swim for several hours at a time over long distances.
Source: SeaWorld Infobook Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Polar Bear
The polar bear is the largest living land carnivore in the world.
Source: Arkive Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears have transparent eyelids that work like sunglasses to filter out the brightness of snow and sun.
Source: Philadelphia Zoo Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears are solitary except during breeding season and when females have young.
Source: Oregon Zoo Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
The polar bear's white fur helps camouflage it in it's polar environment.
Source: NHPTV Wildlife Journal Junior Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No

Polar Bear
Polar bears have large, flat front feet that help make them good swimmers.
Source: Defenders of Wildlife Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
The polar bear is called Nanuuq by the Inuits.
Source: US Fish and Wildlife Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears are found throughout the arctic region surrounding the North Pole.
Source: Animal Diversity Web Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle /High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes

Polar Bear
Polar bears are fierce predators who eat mostly seals (and some walruses and other marine mammals)
Source: Enchanted Learning Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No

Polar Bear Kids Zone
This site from Cannon and WWF has games, polar bear information, animations, and more.

InternetQuest: Black Bears
In this interactive exploration students investigate black bears.

InternetQuest: Polar Bears
In this interactive exploration students investigate black bears.

Polar Bear Trek
You can download a PDF copy of this board game from Polar Bear international her.