Ursus thibetanus
Silhouette: Tracy A. Heath · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), 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.
Biologically and morphologically, the Asian black bear represents the beginning of the arboreal specializations attained by sloth bears and sun bears. It has karyotypes nearly identical to those of the five other ursine bears, and has 74 chromosomes. It is considered the least derived of the Old World bears. It is either a surviving, albeit modified, form of Ursus etruscus, specifically the early, small variety of the Middle Villafranchian or a larger form of Ursus minimus, an extinct species that arose 4 million years ago. With the exception of the age of the bones, it... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sendai | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Asiatic Black Bear sighting in Sendai on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 8th most-seen of the 11 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August–September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Asiatic Black Bear in Sendai on a given day, against under 5% in May and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Asiatic Black Bear sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Sendai, in our data
Sendai is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Asiatic Black Bear sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Carnivora
The closest relatives of the Asiatic Black Bear that you can see in Sendai (order Carnivora, Carnivorans) are Masked Palm Civet (about 80%), Japanese Badger (about 50%) and Japanese Marten (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Asiatic Black Bear is recorded against all the mammals logged in Sendai (17 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
