First photographic evidence of Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, India

Abstract

The Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus, also commonly known as the Himalayan Black Bear and sometimes known as ‘Moon Bear’ due to the presence of a characteristic crescent shaped white mark on the upper portion of the chest. It is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the Red Data Book (Garshelis & Steinmetz 2020), in Appendix I of CITES in India since 1990 and in Schedule I of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act (as amended in 2006). The Asiatic Black Bear occupies a variety of forested habitats, both broad-leaf and coniferous, from near sea level to an elevation up to 4,300 m (Sathyakumar et al. 2013). It is distributed in southern and eastern Asia from Afghanistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran, east through Indo-China, much of China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (Cowan 1972; Servheen 1990). In India, the bear is distributed throughout the Himalaya (Sathyakumar 2001) from the north-west (Jammu and Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh) to the east (Arunachal Pradesh) and in the hills of the other northeastern states (Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Manipur) (Sathyakumar 2006; Sathyakumar & Choudhury 2007; Choudhury 2013). Literature suggests that its range overlaps with that of the Sloth Bear below 1,200 m, the Himalayan Brown Bear above 3,000 m (Prater 1980), and in northeastern India with the Sun Bear (Choudhury 1997a,b). In India, the bear is reported to occur in 83 protected areas and 93 other localities (Sathyakumar & Choudhury 2007)