Class: Mammal
Order: Carnivore
Family: Ursidae (Bears)
Found: South America
Size: 70-90 cm
Weight: 100-175 kg

Diet: Omnivore (Eats Plants & Meat)
Gestation: 5.5 – 8.5 months

Conservation Status: VU

Habitats: The spectacled bear has a reputation for being adaptable, as it is found in a wide variety of habitats and altitudes throughout its range, including cloud forests, high altitude grasslands, dry forest and scrub desert, at altitudes of 250 to the snowline.

Threats: Habitat destruction and fragmentation have been rife in bear habitat and are the major cause of its decline in numbers. They also are persecuted by local farmers who blame them for killing cattle and for destroying maize crops. Mining road development and oil exploration is bringing bears and humans together more often leading to increased human-bear conflict.

Social Behaviour: All bears they are solitary except when mother and cubs are together.

Food: They are excellent climbers, search for fruit and make roosting sites in trees. The favourite foods of Spectacled Bears are fruits, leaves, bamboo hearts, insects and small rodents. Meat is only around 4% of their diet.

Information: They normally sleep a lot through the day and are more active early and late.

Range: Found throughout the Andes mountain range in South America, from western Venezuela to the northwest of Argentina.

Conservation: The WPF funds the Chaparri Ecological Reserve in Peru to help conserve the Andean Spectacled Bear. To find out more you can go to http://www.wildlifeprotection.info/