taipan

 

Range of the Asiatic Black Bear


Taiwanese biologist strives to protect Formosan black bear
Monday 2 April 2007

The aborigines call her “Bear Mother” and the media have dubbed her “Taiwan’s Jane Goodall” after the primatologist whose work in Africa made her a household name worldwide. Hwang Mei-hsiu has been tracking Formosan black bears in the wilderness of Taiwan’s central mountain ranges for a decade as she tries to ensure that the endangered animal is saved from the edge of extinction. Researching the bears, which she began for her doctoral dissertation, has led the 37-year-old to the most remote and isolated regions of the island and at times has put her in life-threatening situations.

“To study bears I have to capture them alive to gather first-hand information, and people thought it horrifying for a girl to chase bears,” said the slim, energetic and eloquent biologist. My family were also worried because nobody had done it before,” she said in a recent interview. Hwang worked on the small mongoose for her master’s degree in Taiwan and switched to the bears for her doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1996. “It didn’t cross my mind at first to research bears but I came to realise it’s a challenging goal worth pursuing,” she said. “There is just not enough attention paid to the animal.” To most people, including skilled aboriginal hunters, her research seemed ambitious but impractical due to the rarity of Formosan black bears, also called moon bears for the pale yellow crescent across their chests.

There is no official figure on the number of black bears that have survived years of hunting and natural disasters in Taiwan, though conservationists such as Hwang estimate there are only several hundred at most left in the wild. Hwang and her small team — which includes aboriginal guides — began tracking the bears in 1998, knowing that traces of the animal’s existence had been found in coastal and central mountain forests. She had learned bear trapping skills while studying in Minnesota, where she tracked the animals in Voyageurs National Park, but she soon found the task was even more challenging in Taiwan.

“In the US, bears struggle less when trapped but here bears seem to know that death awaits them once they encounter humans and they fight for their lives to get away,” said Hwang, an assistant professor at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Institute of Wildlife Conservation. After a two-week mountain stakeout in October 1998 during which she battled a typhoon and rough living conditions, Hwang became the first researcher in Taiwan to capture bears in the wild, fit them with radio transmitters and release them to monitor their movements.

“It was an extremely exciting and nerve-wracking moment — I worried for the safety of the team and the bear,” she recalls as she describes how the first black bear she trapped fought viciously, roaring and jumping at her as it shook off half a dozen anesthetic needles before finally being subdued. The 149-centimetre (4.8-feet) tall female, which was named “Dilmu,” meaning bear in the aboriginal Bunun language, had lost a paw in what Hwang believes was an earlier poaching attempt.

In 1989 Taiwan banned the hunting of Formosan black bears, which are commonly known as Asiatic black bears, although some local biologists are trying to establish that those on the island are a subspecies. The Formosan black bear is categorised as endangered in Taiwan, while the Asiatic black bear is listed as a “vulnerable species” by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN). Asiatic back bears are found across Asia, including Taiwan, Vietnam and India, and as far a field as Russia, though the total population is estimated at less than 50,000.

Despite the government ban, experts believe poaching continues because a bear can fetch up to 150,000 Taiwan dollars (4,545 US) on the black market. “The misconception that a bear’s paw is a delicacy and gall bladder (produces) a precious medicine is deeply rooted in Chinese culture,” Hwang said. She cites an old saying that “one cannot have fish and bear’s paw at the same time” — which refers to a traditional belief that fish and bear’s paw are both delicacies. “Old habits die hard,” she said.

Before the hunting ban, bear’s paw could be found on the menus of so-called “bush meat” restaurants touting dishes made of wild and rare animals from the mountains. Bear bile, cruelly and painfully syphoned from the bear’s gall bladder, is used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for alleged “detoxing and calming effects,” though the claims are of dubious merit.

Under Taiwan’s Wildlife Conservation Law, the hunting and killing of protected animals carries a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to one million dollars. Hwang said her team proved poaching was still rampant in the Taiwanese mountains when eight of the 15 bears they caught between 1998-2000 in the Tafen area of Yushan had lost a paw or at the very least several fingers.

“They lived in the back country where most aboriginal hunters would not go but still they couldn’t escape the misfortune,” said Hwang, who co-chairs the IUCN’s Asiatic Black Bear Expert Team. “There is still a chance to save the black bears from nearing extinction. I have to speak out to draw public attention to the bears, to create an inner voice in people that tells them to help conserve the endangered animal.” Hwang noted the recent public frenzies surrounding the appearance at Taipei zoo of king penguins from Japan and Australian koalas, and said she hoped Taiwanese people would develop an equal appreciation for their indigenous animals.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2007/03/27/2003354044

Skull of an Asiatic Black Bear


Average Skull Length: 27cm

dasyurus

 

Bear poacher gets taste of his own medicine

Thursday, November 15, 2007

A poacher illegally hunting bears in Kashmir found the tables turned on him – when the bear fought back, and he became trapped in the hole he'd dug to trap the bear.

Makhan Khan, along with others, was trying to hunt the Asiatic bear near the village of Gasoo. Asiatic bears are an endangered species in the region.

The problem began for Mr Khan when the bear he and his companions were stalking turned around and charged at him.

As his fellow hunters fled, Khan made the mistake of stepping into the concealed hole they'd been trying to drive the bear into.

Up to his neck in the hole, he tried to fend the bear off with a long pole. The attempt was less than effective.

Pictures – taken by a photographer who was in the area to document the problem of illegal bear hunting – show the bear grabbing Khan's head as he tried to duck further into the hole to hide.

Fortunately for Khan, as his companions returned to the scene, the bear lost interest in his head and wandered away. He suffered multiple injuries in the attack, but survived.


Khan tries to fend the bear off with his stick


The bear grabs Khan's head as he gets stuck in his own hole

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=75807&in_page_id=34

taipan

 

Acorns key to Formosan black bear movements

NOT AFTER HONEY: A local researcher has found that the bears will roam to a particular region when acorns are plentiful and leave for other areas when they become scarce

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Saturday, Apr 12, 2008

Formosan black bears, the only bear species endemic to Taiwan, forage near Yushan (Óñɽ) following the fruit bearing season of a specific kind of oak tree, a recent study conducted by local zoologists found.

Formosan black bear, or ursus thibetanus formosanus is a subspecies of the Asiatic black bear. The species, the largest mammal in Taiwan, usually inhabits forest areas at elevations between 1,000m and 3,500m.

Scientists believe that the bears leave their domain only when the food supply becomes scarce.

The zoologists, who have closely observed the black bear¡¯s activities for nearly a decade, reported on Wednesday that the number of bears in the region laced with ring-cupped oaks always rises sharply from October to January, corresponding with the period when acorns are produced.

Hwang Mei-hsiu (üSÃÀÐã), assistant professor at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and leader of the project, said the average bear population in the neighborhood between October and January is around 1.5 times that in February to September.

¡°Bears usually begin to arrive by late October, and leave after acorns become scarce. When there are no nuts at all, the bears disappear entirely,¡± said Hwang during a thesis presentation organized by the Yushan National Park Administration, the supervising agency for the areas neighboring Yushan.

Hwang, nicknamed ¡°Mother Black Bear¡± for her contribution to the understanding and conservation of the endangered species, said during the years when ring-cupped oaks produce less fruit, the bears are more likely invade human territory to seek food.

Animal researchers suggested that the acorn production volume can be recognized as an index of the aggressiveness of wild black bears from October to January.

They also suggested that when the nut supply is expected to decrease, a warning about prowling bears could be issued to residents or tourists in the area.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/04/12/2003409062

taipan

 

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/s/0MCarnivor/ursidae/ursus/Ursus_thibetanus/01Ursus_thibetanusAMWtHt.html

hyaenidae

 

Among the most exploited and persecuted of bear species, as well as my favorite bear species. Ursus thibetanus was my favorite animal up until about 2-3 years ago.

Asiatic Black Bear Conservation Action Plan

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