Fun Trivia » Animals » Carnivores » Ursidae-Bear Family

The sun bear was first recorded and described in 1821 in Sumatra, but was first called 'Ursus malayanus' by British statesman, Stamford Raffles. However, American naturalist Thomas Horsfield later thought the species better suited in a genus of its own, upon studying it in 1825. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Lepus alleni, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, Ramphastos sulfuratus

There is eight types of existing bears. These are the brown bear, American black bear, panda, polar bear, spectacled bear, sun bear, sloth bear and Asiatic black bear. There were more bears in prehistoric times which have now become extinct. Difficulty: Hard.

 

2, 14, 22

The World Wildlife Fund changed its name to the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1986 but retained the giant panda as its emblem and logo. The giant panda has very few natural enemies in the wild but has suffered significantly from human encroachment into their territories. They are reliant on bamboo as their main food source (they need a lot of it - around 20 to 30lbs a day) and bamboo forests have been severely hit by deforestation and infrastructure developments.

It is difficult for giant panda populations to recover from these losses as the females don't start breeding until somewhere between four and eight years of age and will then go on to have only about one cub every two years. In captivity the situation is even worse as breeding programmes have been relatively unsuccessful and most zoos have had to resort to artificial insemination to achieve any panda pregnancies at all.

Giant pandas make look cute and cuddly but they are actually ferocious creatures and could quite conceivably chase and kill humans. However, Shakespeare's play 'The Winter's Tale' is set in the kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia, while giant pandas are native to China. It therefore seems unlikely that the stage direction "Exit, pursued by a giant panda" (or "Exit, chased by a giant panda") would ever have been considered. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Red panda, Common panda, White panda

The gray wolf and grizzly bear have rivaled each other for many centuries, and evidently continue to do so. Both animals are aggressive hunters that find the same kind of habitat suitable, being mainly woody, grassy areas. Difficulty: Hard.

 

American bison, Panther, Black bear

The Kodiak bear is a subspecies of the brown bear, scientific name Ursus arctos. The Kodiak bear subspecies was named after the Baltic naturalist Alexander von Middendorff. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Ursus arctos collaris , Ursus arctos horribilis , Ursus maritimus middendorffi

Hibernation is a state of dormancy in animals. Most small mammals will move into a coma like sleep, their body temperature will fall until it is just a few degrees above freezing and their breathing will be almost undetectable.
The bear, however, is not a true hibernator. Whilst their heart-rates will fall considerably they will keep their body temperatures closer to normal, dropping only nine to ten degrees lower than their active temperature. Their system, however, is so well developed that they will not need to feed, drink or excrete during the course of their hibernation. Difficulty: Easy.

A polar bear has 42 teeth; most of them are sharp and pointy. Like any carnivore, they are used to rip and tear the meat and blubber of a seal. Difficulty: Average.

 

Hairs per centimeter, Taste buds, Days of sleep per year

At the beginning of WWII, Americans feared that an enemy attack or sabotage could destroy our forest resources at a time when wood products were greatly needed. Timber was a primary commodity for battleships, gunstocks, and packing crates for military transport. The CFFP encouraged citizens to make a personal effort to prevent forest fires. Difficulty: Hard.

 

1945, 1943, 1944

Seals are the preferred food of Polar Bears. Despite what you may see in the cartoons, penguins do not live in the Arctic, where polar bears live, although they do live in Antarctica, where there are no polar bears. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Badger, Penguin, Whale

Brown, black, sun and spectacled bears are all omnivorous, although the spectacled bear's diet is mainly fruit and only 5 to 7% meat. Polar bears are carnivorous, sloth bears are insectivorous and pandas are herbivorous. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Piscivorous, Insectivorous, Carnivorous

Unsurprisingly the spectacled bear can be found in the Andes Mountains, in the north-western part of South America. The distinctive face markings are unique to each bear and therefore provide means of identifying and tracking specific individuals. On most bears the markings take the form of rings around the eyes, hence the name 'spectacled'.

It is not just the markings that make spectacled bears distinctive. They are also the only surviving members of the Tremarctinae subfamily of short-faced bears, which means they have relatively flat, round faces with a short snout.

Unless Shakespeare's Antigonus had sailed a very long way from his home in southern Europe, it seems extremely unlikely that he met his death while being chased by a spectacled bear.
Difficulty: Average.

 

Brown-nosed bear, Pale-faced bear, Bearded bear

Brown bears cover the entire state of Alaska except for the southwestern islands of the Bering Sea and the islands in southeast Alaska south of Frederick Sound. These islands are near others such as those located in the Aleutian Chain. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Beaufort Sea Coast, Northwestern Areas, Border with Canada

Kodiak bears live in the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwestern Alaska. These bears have occupied this habitat for over ten thousand years. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Illinois, California, Mississippi

What exactly triggers the bears' urge to hibernate is not known. There are arguments that the bear can survive the harsh conditions of winter and the polar bear is a good example of this. However, these conditions do contribute to the scarcity of food supplies and the lack of food means the bear must find a way to reduce its rate of calorie loss.
Interestingly, in noting the above, the male polar bear does not hibernate. Also, bears that live in warmer regions may not hibernate. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Food sources become scarce., Weather conditions have become harsh., Reduce the rate of calorie loss.

Both brown bears (Ursus arctos) and black bears (Ursus americanus) can be brown. Without further information, the bear could be either species. Difficulty: Hard.

 

A brown bear because it was brown., A black bear because they are usually brown., Neither a brown nor black bear, since both are usually white or blond.

Most of the senses of a polar bear are similar to that of modern man.
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/PolarBears/pbsenses.html Difficulty: Hard.

 

Dog, Elephant, Seal

There are eight bear species living today:
Asiatic black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus) - found in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Himalayas, Tibet, Bangladesh; size: 125-185 cm, 100-200 kg;
Brown bear (Ursus arctos) - found from northwestern North America to Europe, the Middle East and Western Asia; average size: up to 4.8 m, 150-430 kg;
North American black bear (Ursus americanus) - found all the way from Mexico to sub-Arctic Canada; average size: 125-185 cm, 65-330 kg;
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) - live in the Arctic regions; size: up to 4.2 m, 220-980 kg;
Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) - found in the forests of India and Sri Lanka; size: 150-185 cm; 90-150 kg;
Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) - found in the northern part of the Andes; size: 150-180 cm, 70-165 kg;
Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) - spread throughout the Indochina Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo; size: 120-150 cm; 30-70 kg;
Panda bear (Ailuropoda melanoluca) - barely survive in the Tibetan plateau; size: 160-190 cm; up to 180 kg;
There was a long debate whether the panda bears should be included in the bear family or the raccoon family and eventually the analysis of its genes showed that it was actually a species of bear. Difficulty: Hard.

 

ten, six, twelve

The success of this poster demonstrated that an animal of the forest was the best messenger to promote the prevention of accidental forest fires. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto

Ursavus Elemensis is the earliest know species of bear. Ursus arctos is the brown bear, which evolved into polar bears (Grandpa!) about 200,000 years ago. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Malursus ursinus, Ursavus elemensis, Ursus arctos

Sun bears are fond of honey, but their diet is extensive. They are also fond of insects, fruit and seeds, while occasionally eating animals such as deer, turtles, earthworms, etc. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Crescent bear, Hummingbird bear, Sunrise bear

The Kodiak bear, also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear, is called a Taquka-aq by the Pacific Eskimo. The name Taquka-aq comes from the Alutiiq language which is spoken in coastal Alaska. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Kodiak brown bear , Alaskan grizzly bear, Taquka-aq

Studies have indicated that a bear will endure periods of shivering while in hibernation and that these bouts are sufficient to maintain muscle tone and may assist them in avoiding the onset of bed-sores.
This remarkable system that the bear possesses will also allow it to recycle calcium with greater efficiency so that there is no loss of bone density during these long periods of inactivity. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The bear will have no muscle wastage at all., The bear will endure similar percentage of atrophy to humans., The bear will lose muscle at a greater rate than humans

It is believed that the hair channels the UV light to the black skin, thereby showing up black when phototgraphed with ultraviolet light. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Green, White, Doesn't change

August 9, 1944 is Smokey Bear's official birthday. The bear was named 'Smokey' after 'Smokey' Joe Martin, who was Assistant Chief of the New York City Fire Department from 1919 to 1930. But it was not until the 1965 campaign and the work of Chuck Kuderna, that Smokey's image evolved into the one we know today. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Walt Disney, Chuck Kuderna, Mike Jupp

All the others are prime feeding times for bears. Difficulty: Easy.

 

twilight, night-time, early morning

Polar bears appear white due to their fur. Their skin is black for better heat absorption. Difficulty: Hard.

 

White, Cream, Yellow

The sun bear has the longest tongue of all the bears, at between 20-25cm or 8-10 inches long.

The sun bear uses its long tongue to extract honey, termites, bees, bee larvae, and other food it is partial to. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Claws, Nose, Ears

The sloth bear is native to the Indian subcontinent and can be found in a range of countries including India, Nepal and Bangladesh. A subspecies is also found in Sri Lanka. The bears are extremely good at tree-climbing and are often found hanging upside down - which might, along with their long shaggy fur, explain why they were initially mistaken for sloths by early naturalists.

Sloth bears are not as slow as their name implies! They are in fact known for attacking humans that encroach on their territory. Still, as the name doesn't imply any great risk to human life, Shakespeare would probably have picked a different type of bear to appear in 'The Winter's Tale'.

Corals, tortoises and slugs are all slow animals (corals in particular as they don't move at all) but they don't tend to hang around in trees... Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

Sluggish bear, Tortoise bear, Coral bear

The glacier bear mainly inhabits southeast Alaska along with the Dall black bear. However, the two are distinguished by their scientific name, with the glacier bear's being "Ursus americanus emmonsii" and the Dall black bear's being, "Ursus americanus pugnax". The eastern black bear is found in the state of Alaska as well, but is more commonly found in continental US states such as Montana and a few parts of Texas. The cinnamon bear is home to the northwest in states such as Idaho and Montana.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Dall black bear, Eastern black bear, Cinnamon bear

Gillyweed is a fictional plant mentioned in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" novel series. Since gillyweed is a fictional item, it isn't in the diet of a Kodiak bear.

An omnivorous Kodiak bear eats salmon from May until September. During the year, the Kodiak bear also eats berries, seaweed and invertebrates carcasses found on the Alaskan beaches. Difficulty: Hard.

 

berries, seaweed, salmon

The seal is the main food source for a polar bear. However, in the event of a seal shortage, they will seek out rabbits or Arctic foxes, or go through the landfills or the garbage cans of the local residents. Difficulty: Easy.

 

See a seal, Hear a seal, Taste a seal

The polar bear is generally considered the largest bear, although the term "largest" is pretty relative - depending in fact on the criterion: heaviest, longest, largest recorded etc. The average polar bear dimensions are by far greater than those of any other bear species. However, there is a subspecies of the brown bear, the Kodiak bear, whose recorded specimens have had dimensions slightly larger than those of the polar bear. Difficulty: Hard.

 

polar bear, American black bear, giant panda

Soon his caretakers began calling him Smokey Bear after the poster created almost six years earlier. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Little Cinders, Ouchmypawhurts, Baby Blaze

The largest recorded polar bear was 1000 kg (2200 pounds). Females typically weigh about 300kg (660 pounds). Difficulty: Hard.

 

1000 kg (2200 pounds), 300 kg (660 pounds), 730 kg (1605 pounds)

Bears inhabit all the continents except Australia, Africa and Antarctica. The Atlas bear used to inhabit Africa, but it became extinct in the 1870s. Difficulty: Easy.

 

The Americas and Australia, Europe, Asia and Antarctica, Asia, North America and Tasmania

Asian black bears are generally herbivorous and spend a lot of time hanging out in trees. They build nest like structures in the trees to rest on and to sit on while eating. They have also been known to hibernate in hollowed out tree trunks some way above the ground.

Other than the large white markings on its chest, the best way to identify an Asian black bear is the size and shape of its ears because they are relatively large and tend to make the bear look like it is wearing a set of Mickey Mouse ears...

Asian black bears are quite dangerous to humans and would therefore have been an ideal candidate for Shakespeare to have used in 'The Winter's Tale' if it wasn't for the problem that they live a long way from southern Europe. However, you can't really blame them for not liking humans very much when one of the significant dangers to their population is poaching - their gallbladders being particularly prized for traditional Asian medicines.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Chinese star bear, White tree bear, Bigfoot bear

In the Kodiak bear subspecies, like most members of the family Ursidae, a male Kodiak bear is called a boar and a Kodiak bear female is a sow. The Kodiak bear sow is thirty percent lighter than a Kodiak bear boar. Difficulty: Hard.

 

A male is a bull; a female is a cow, A male is a buck; a female is a doe, A male is a stallion; a female is a mare

The bear is highly vulnerable at birth. It is essentially naked and does not possess an insulating layer of fatty tissue. As a consequence its ability to regulate its own temperature is a major issue.
The mother bear will minimize this problem by (a) giving birth to the baby inside the den, (b) immediately cleaning and drying the new born bear and (c) keeping the baby bear huddled in close contact for a considerable period of time. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Covered in fur but blind., Attached to its mother via cord., Covered in fur and able to fend for itself.

Every year their teeth get a new layer of cementum, although it's a thin layer added to the teeth. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Count the bald spots, Check the hair discoloration, Wait for it to die and do carbon dating

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is one of the largest carnivores in the world. It can weigh over 500 kg and can stand over 3 m tall on its hind legs. The largest recorded polar bear was a over 3.6 m tall and weighed about 990 kg. It lives on the islands and ice packs around the Arctic Circle and can sometimes descend into the tundra (especially in the winter season).
The polar bear is very well adapted to the harsh Arctic climate: under its thick fur, which covers its whole body except the nose and paws (the front ones are webbed for swimming), comes a layer of fat which makes the bear almost immune to cold.
Polar bears have no natural enemies, but they have to travel great distances, both on land and water, in order to find food (mainly seals). Difficulty: Average.

 

at both poles, in the Antarctic regions, in neither of these