Friday, July 11, 2008

Live At The Cleveland Zoo-Sloth Bears


We switch gears a little here, going from White Christmas to Malayan Sun Bears. Well, at least I think they are sun bears. They only sorta match the description given at the Cleveland MetroParks Zoo webpage, but that's where I saw them and that's the closest thing I could find to what I saw. The description includes the band of light fur under the neck, but it says short hair. Does this guy look short-haired to you? I didn't think so. Wait, I'm wrong. This is a sloth bear. They share the neck band, but are long-haired. Sorry about the confusion. I just can't seem to get away from the sloths.

I had only taken a few shots when suddenly a fight broke out! I think one of the bears was getting a little frisky, and the other bear in the enclosure wasn't having any of it. I think it's pictures like this that make Stephen Colbert so deathly afraid of bears. If I hadn't been on the other side of a wall and a moat, I would have been scared too. But once she put her teeth away for the evening, she headed off into her bear house, and poor Mr. Bear was left outside to contemplate possible escape using his giant claws.

3 comments:

  1. Hm. They're sort of handsome--until they open their mouths, that is.

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  2. Sun Bears are similar but are very short-coated. They may not be large as bears go, but the teeth and claws are frightening.

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