Call from the wild: Sloth bears need protection, too

Nepal is home to three species of bears, namely the Black bear, Brown bear and the Sloth bear distributed across Himalayan, mountain and Tarai regions, respectively. Among these three members of the Ursidae family, Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), commonly called ‘Kathe Bhal’ in Nepal, is facing existential crisis highlighting the need for more tailored conservation actions.

Distribution and biology

Sloth bears are found primarily in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. In Nepal, Sloth bears are distributed along the Tarai and Chure regions of Nepal mostly below the 1,500 meter elevation range. Sloth bears inhabit different habitat ranges, including grassland, moist evergreen forest, riverine forest and Sal forest.

Sloth bears are omnivorous, primarily feeding on termites, ants and insects. They use their front teeth to dig for catching their food, which makes them myrmecophagy mammals. Sloth bears also feed on fruits, flowers and climb trees to hunt for honeycombs. By consuming the termites and ants, this species helps balance the ecosystem apart from helping with seed dispersal, regeneration of plants and creating suitable conditions for seed germination. Furthermore, it also supports the structure and composition of forests.  

Conservation

Though nationally-endangered, sloth bears have yet to get conservation attention in Nepal. Most of Nepal’s sloth bears inhabit Chitwan National Park enjoying a protected habitat, apart from Parsa National Park, Bardiya National Park, Banke National Park and Suklaphanta National Park, forests in Dhanusha and Deukhuri valley in Dang and Triyuga forest in eastern Nepal, which is the second largest habitat of the species in the country. 

As many of these habitats are near the sites with high human population density, the frequency of encounters between the species and the humans is high. Such encounters are largely undocumented. Increasing dependency of communities on natural resources, especially on forests in the Tarai region, has caused a decline in the population of this mammal. 

Anthropogenic threats including habitat loss—due to fragmentation and deforestation—overharvesting and use as dancing bears are leading causes of this decline. 

Furthermore, body parts of this species are in demand internationally for ‘medicinal purposes’ and this factor is triggering the trapping, hunting and trafficking of the species’ body parts. 

The species seems to be moving toward the core area of the jungle due to an increasing exploitation of resources in its habitat. 

Recent instances of the species’ extirpation in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Suklaphanta National Park of Nepal suggest the need for an appropriate conservation action plan.

Normally in our country, charismatic species like the Tiger, Rhino and the Elephant have been prioritized for conservation, while the rest live in the shadows. Nevertheless, conservation is the process that must emphasize conserving biodiversity and embracing the ecosystem as an entire system, demonstrating that it is not selective toward any particular species. 

But our conservation rules and regulations seem to be species-oriented, despite the fact that every species has a role to maintain the ecosystem and that declination and increasing extirpation of the species are signs of an unfavorable ecosystem. Many of the records of Sloth bears in Nepal are from the studies targeted at other species, where records of Sloth bears are captured as a by-catch. Besides, the CNP species study hardly covers unprotected areas. Despite being in the threatened category, Sloth bear has not been prioritized for its study and conservation.

Generally, Sloths bear a sense of insecurity during accidental appearances/encounters with humans, so they try to defend themselves. Because of this behavior, local communities feel that these bears are harmful, so they even seek to kill the mammals by trapping them. 

Sloth bears enjoy some protection at both international and national levels as they fall under appendix I of CITES that seeks to protect the species from threats related to trafficking. Furthermore, Oct 12 is celebrated as the Sloth Bear Day with the aim to promote its remarkable ecological role. Defeating the negative perception and spreading awareness on the importance of this species in maintaining the ecological balance should be our main focus. 

Understanding the prey-predator relationship, trophic cascade should be prioritized to create suitable habitat for particular species. 

Developing a corridor between its habitat and enhancing coexistence should be a top priority at the community level, which has direct connection with the species. This can be done by involving communities for conservation on the basis of their indigenous knowledge.