On my trip to four National Parks in central India, I was really hoping to see a Sloth Bear, Melursus ursinus, and I knew that my best chance to see one was Satpura National Park in Madha Pradesh, which was the last location on my itinerary. I was surprised and delighted when my group saw one at Tadoba National Park at the beginning of a trip. We also saw evidence of another one digging under a termite mound, but it kept hidden from our sight behind the mound, so we just got tantalising glimpses amoung the dust and dirt which it was blowing up as it dug.
Satpura was a delight, we had several Sloth Bear sightings during my short visit, the highlight being this mother bear with two young cubs, about six weeks old, riding on her back. (This is the only bear species whose cubs do this), They were a bundle of fun, sometimes calling out as they slid down, off her rear, sometimes jumping off to climb up a tree. We watched one cub do this and it was incredibly fast up and down again, jumping the last few metres. Apparently the mothers encourage their cubs to do this, presumably to strengthen their claws, which they will need to break into termite mounds.
Sloth Bears are specialised feeders, evolved to feed mainly on termites and ants. They have a gap in their front teeth through which they can suck the insects once they have broken into their homes. They can also eat flowers and fruits, and even adults have been seen climbing trees, knocking down a honeycomb, and eating the honey on the ground. In Sri Lanka they are said to get drowsy/tipsy on Palu fruit
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