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SLOTH BEAR

LRZ_SlothBears.jpg

SCIENTIFIC NAME:  Melursus ursinus
HOUSE NAME: 
Males "Harper" and "Kelce"

HABITAT:  Primarily low altitude dry forests and grasslands.  Sri Lanka and India extending north to the Himalayan foothills.

CONSERVATION STATUS: Vulnerable
                                                   

FUN FACT: 

The animals got their name in the 1700s when the hide of a sloth bear was brought to Europe with a description that the animal had a long “trunk-like” snout and was often found hanging upside down from tree branches.   From this information it was assumed to be a type of sloth and named as a “Bear Sloth”.  In 1810 a live specimen was brought to Paris, identified as a bear and renamed Sloth Bear.

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