Sloth bear

Sloth bear Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene – recent
Standing Melursus ursinus
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Subfamily:	Ursinae
Genus:	Melursus Meyer, 1793
Species:	M. ursinus
Binomial name
Melursus ursinus (Shaw, 1791)
Sloth bear range (black – former, green – extant)
Synonyms
Bradypus ursinus Shaw, 1791 Melursus lybius Meyer, 1793

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), also known as the Indian bear, is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation.^[1] It is the only species in the genus Melursus.

It has also been called "labiated bear" because of its long lower lip and palate used for sucking up insects.^[2] It has long, shaggy fur, a mane around the face, and long, sickle-shaped claws. It is lankier than brown and Asian black bears. It shares features of insectivorous mammals and evolved during the Pleistocene from the ancestral brown bear through divergent evolution.

Sloth bears breed during spring and early summer and give birth near the beginning of winter. When their territories are encroached upon by humans, they sometimes attack them. Historically, humans have drastically reduced these bears' habitat and diminished their population by hunting them for food and products such as their bacula and claws. Sloth bears have been tamed and used as performing animals and as pets.^[3]