Endangered bear: Sun bear cub checks in at Moscow Zoo

A sun bear cub has arrived at the Moscow Zoo. The sun bear is the smallest member of the bear family and its rarest species. The sun bear is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

The six-month-old female was brought from Malaysia under a conservation program. The cub is now living in an indoor off-exhibit enclosure to get used to a new environment and zoo staff.

The bear cub has a hearty appetite. The female is getting baby formula for dogs, baby yogurts, fruit purees, pieces of fresh peaches, apples, mangoes, bananas and pumpkins. The cub at that age grows quickly; in the first days of October, the animal weighed a little over 13 kilograms.

“The sun bear’s arrival at the Moscow Zoo is a real milestone for the city. This species was not found in any of the Russian zoos for more than 30 years. Now the bear is being supervised by professional zoologists: they are monitoring the animal’s growth and development to adapt it to a new environment. The new bear cub is very important for us. This species is listed as a rare one on the IUCN Red List, and the zoo plays a vital role in conserving these animals,” noted Alexei Fursin, Moscow Government Minister, Head of the Moscow Department of Culture.

Despite their small size, sun bears are very strong animals, so veterinarians perform medical procedures with caution.

Sun bears are found in tropical and subtropical forests of the foothills and mountains of Southeast Asia. They can climb trees well and feed on shoots, rhizomes, fruits, bees and earthworms in the wild. The bears use their long thin tongue to get termites.

The sun bear is the smallest member of the bear family. It is 10 times smaller than the polar bear. The animal body reaches up to 1.6 meters in length with its shoulder height ranging from 50 to 80 centimeters. It weighs 100 kilograms at most. The bear is black in color, with a large horseshoe-shaped white or red spot on its chest, reminiscent of the rising sun in shape and color. Hence, its name: the sun bear.

The Moscow Zoo was home to these animals in the late 20 th century. In the early 1980s, the females Solokha and Lyalka as well as the male Solomon arrived at the zoo. When the reconstruction began, they were transferred to other zoos. The zoologists who looked after the sun bears at the time still work at the capital’s zoo.