Beruang Madu (Helarctos malayanus)

The Smallest Member in The Bear Kingdom

The Look of Beruang Madu

Bengkulu’s Beruang Madu (Helarctos malayanus) is one of the samples of Indonesia’s richness of the animal species. The Beruang Madu is also known as the Sun Bear is the smallest bear in the world. With only 1.40 m in height, the Sun Bear is only less then 1/2 the size of the largest bear in the family, the polar bear. The Sun Bear’s back height is 70 cm in average. Their weight is only around 50 – 65 kg. They have long finger nails that they used to climb trees with straight branches.
The Sun Bear has long and short fur. They have white yellowish V spots on the chests. Their muzzles are in lighter colors then the rest of the body. They live in areas such as Sumatera, Kalimantan, Indochina, Southern part of China, Burma, etc. Their habitat include the primary forest, secondary forest, and sometimes also in the farms. The social live of this bear will remain a mystery because there have not been enough evidence found to know more about it. However, they usually have one or two babies when they give birth and the average weight of the babies are11 ounces or 325 gram.

 

What They Consume

Beruang  Madu is the Indonesian name of Sun Bear. Beruang means bears and Madu means honey. They are named that way because honey is their favorite food. Moreover, they usually consume the beehive along with all the content, including honey as their primary food. They reached the inside part of the beehive by inserting their long fingers and hands inside the beehive. As soon as their hands are in contact with honey, they immediately retreat their hands and lick them. This activity is usually done during the night. Besides the beehive, the Sun Bear also loves to snack on fruits such as berries, roots, insects, birds, lizards and also rodents.