Sun bear
bear found in tropical forest habitats of Southeast Asia
The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is a bear species in the family Ursidae found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus Helarctos and the smallest bear species, standing nearly 70 cm (28 in) at the shoulder and weighing 25–65 kg (55–143 lb). It is stockily built, with large paws, strongly curved claws, small, rounded ears and a short snout. The fur is generally short and jet black, but can vary from grey to red. The sun bear gets its name from its characteristic orange to cream-coloured chest patch.
The sun bear's unique morphology with inward-turned front feet, flattened chest, powerful forelimbs with large claws suggests adaptations for climbing, and it is an excellent climber and the most arboreal of all bears. It sunbathes or sleeps in trees 2 to 7 m (6 ft 7 in to 23 ft 0 in) above the ground. It is mainly active during the day, though nocturnality might be more common in areas frequented by humans. It tends to remain solitary, but sometimes occur in pairs such as a mother and her cub. It does not hibernate, possibly because food resources are available the whole year throughout its range.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sun bear” is bear found in tropical forest habitats of Southeast Asia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through bear, found and tropical, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q144923. The Library of Congress control number is sh85130486. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sun bear” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.