- Sri Lankan sloth bear
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Sri Lankan Sloth Bear At a small waterhole at sunset in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Ursidae Genus: Melursus Species: M. ursinus Subspecies: M. u. inornatus Trinomial name Melursus ursinus inornatus
Pucheran, 1855 [1]The Sri Lankan Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus inornatus) is a subspecies of the Sloth Bear. It is found mainly in lowland dry forests in the Island of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Sloth Bear is omnivorous. It feeds on nuts, berries, and roots, as well as carrion and meat. One of its main staples is insects, which it removes from rotting stumps and trees with its long, hairless snout and its naked lips. It rarely kills animals. This bear also likes honey.
Yala National Park is a famous place to sight these mammals in Sri Lanka.
Local Names
In its native habitat in Sri Lanka, this bear is called Walaha in Sinhala Language and Karadi in Tamil Language.[2] Both terms simply translates to 'bear' in English. Sloth bear is the only bear species found in Sri Lanka.
Conservation status
The Sri Lankan Sloth Bear is highly threatened, with a population of less than 1000 (the wild population may be as few as 500) in many isolated populations with population decrease. Destruction of dry-zone natural forest is its main threat, because unlike other large Sri Lankan animals, the Sri Lankan Sloth Bear is highly dependent on natural forests for its food source.
References
- ^ Revue et Magasin de Zoologie [1855] 7 (3): 392 (J. Pucheran)
- ^ http://www.iar.org.uk/media/downloads/iar-sloth-bears.pdf
1. Revue et Magasin de Zoologie [1855] 7 (3): 392 (J. Pucheran)
Skulls of a Sri Lankan sloth bear (left) and a common sloth bear (right) from the Muséum national d'histoire naturelleCategories:- Bears
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