Ursus thibetanus

The Asian black bear, also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It is distributed from southeastern Iran, Pakistan, India and the Himalayas to mainland Southeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, China and the Russian Far East to the islands of Honshū and Shikoku in Japan. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by deforestation and poaching for its body parts, which are used in traditional medicine.

Ursus thibetanus

Guérin Nicolas ( messages ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Asian black bearPBDB
Sits inside
UrsusPBDB
Diet
herbivore, carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ursidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 3.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 24 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 24 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 22 of 24 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 24 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.4 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.6 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

24 occurrences of Ursus thibetanus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

24 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Ursus thibetanus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ursus thibetanus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

382 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 24 sites for Ursus thibetanus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 24 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ursus thibetanus

Credit
Guérin Nicolas ( messages )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ursus thibetanus · NHMUK:ZE:26.10.8.41

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itUrsus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Cuvier 1823)