Sloth Bear eating termites through its snout!

A sloth bear near the boundary of Panna National Park (Madhya Pradesh, India) running around in sarsoan (mustard / rapeseed) fields near a village! While Sloth Bears can be quite harmful, unpredictable and dangerous due to their poor eyesight and easy excitability, this fellow was quite oblivious to the presence of yours truly - the cameraman, and went about his job quite diligently - scooping up termites from an ant-hill, loping around and just having fun!

The sloth bear (Ursus ursinus = Melursus ursinus), also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution. The population isolated in Sri Lanka is considered as a subspecies. Unlike brown and black bears, sloth bears have lankier builds, long shaggy coats that form a mane around the face, long sickle shaped claws, and a specially adapted lower lip and palate used for sucking insects. They feed on termites, honeybee colonies and fruits. Sloth bears sometimes attack humans that encroach on their territory. Historically, humans have drastically reduced their habitat and diminished their population by hunting them for food and products such as their baculum and claws. These bears have been used for as performing pets due to their tameable nature.



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Local names of a sloth bear in different languages -
Bengali: Bhalluk
Gond: Yerid, Yedjal and Asol
Hindi: Rinch, Bhalu and Adam-zad
Marathi: Aswal
Kol: Bana
Malayalam: Pani karudi
Oraon: Bir Mendi
Sanskrit: Riksha, Bhalluka
Sinhala: Walaha
Gujarati: Rinchh

Source - Wikipedia

Panna National Park is situated in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, at a distance of around 57 km from Khajuraho. The region is also famous for its diamond industry. The park is known worldwide for its wild cats, including tigers as well as deer and antelope.

Source - www.pannanationalpark.net

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