Spectacled Bear

Facts about Spectacled Bear, "Scientific name for Spectacled Bear is Tremarctos ornatus" The Spectacled Bear is a bear variety that belongs to the Tremarctos genus of the Ursidae family. The Spectacled Bear hails from North America and it is the only existing species of bear, and the only existing member of the its subfamily. Its binomial name is Tremarctos ornatus and it is also called as the Andean small-faced bear. In spite of some exceptionally spilling over into the eastern parts of Panama, these Spectacled Bears are mostly limited to certain parts of western and northern South America. Spectacled Bears can be found in western Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, western Bolivia, Peru, and in the northwestern parts of Argentina. They are also found approximately in the entire area of the Andes Mountains.

Features of Spectacled Bear

The Spectacled Bear is a medium-sized animal and usually male Spectacled Bear are larger and heavier than the female bears. Male Spectacled Bear have a body weight between 220 lbs and 440 lbs (100 kg and to 200 kg), whereas the body weight of the female Spectacled Bear ranges from 77 lbs to 181 lbs (35 kg to 82 kg). The Spectacled Bear is the only animal, which is native to South America and it is technically the biggest land carnivorous animal on that continent, even though as little as 5 percent of its diet is made of meat.

Generally, the fur of the Spectacled Bear is blackish in color, though these animals may differ from jet black to dark tan and to even a reddish shade. Usually, the Spectacled Bear has distinctive ginger or beige colored markings across its upper chest and face, though not animals of this bear variety have "spectacle" marks. The pattern and degree of pale markings are different on each individual bear to some extent, and these bears can be readily renowned by this.

The Spectacled Bear has a shorter tail with the length of 2 13/16 inches (7 cm) in length, and the height of its shoulders ranges from 24 inches to 30 inches (60 cm to 90 cm). This Spectacled bear breed has a circular face when compared to other existing bears, with a fairly short and wide snout. In some vanished varieties of the Tremarctinae subfamily, this facial arrangement has been considered to be an adjustment to a basically carnivorous diet, in spite of the herbivorous dietary favorites of the modern Spectacled Bears.

Diet of Spectacled Bear

The Spectacled Bear is an herbivorous animal and 5 to 7 % of its diet is composed of meat. The Spectacled Bear usually feed on bromeliads, cactus, palm nuts, frailejon, bamboos, orchid bulbs, fallen fruit on the forest ground, and closed palm leaves. The Spectacled Bear also feed on tree barks.

Reproduction of Spectacled Bear

In Spectacled Bears, mating may take place at any time of the year, but normally, their activity peaks during April and June, at the commencement of the wet season and analogous with the peak of the fruit-ripening season. The mating couple will mate jointly for one to two weeks, during which the Spectacled Bear will mate numerous times. The female Spectacled Bear births to one to three young ones during the dry season, between the months of December and February after a gestation period between 5 1/2 months and 8 1/2 months. They usually weigh between 11 and 12 ounces (300 grams and 330 grams).

The average lifespan of the Spectacled Bear is 25 years in the wild, whereas in the captive, they can live up to 36 years.