A remarkable male Sloth Bear. In India’s Ranthambore National Park, I had an extended encounter with a wonderful male Sloth Bear. Firstly, I found him at the base of a tree when he stood up and began to have a really good scratch on the tree. He then wandered off making much crunching noises as he walked through the dried leaves. I next met up with him as he walked along a track. He emerged in front of me, made a loud call, looked around and headed off into the jungle. He then walked up a rocky incline and explored a dark cave. This was not to be his resting place for the as he walked further up the rocky slope and vanished from view. What a superb encounter with a remarkable male Sloth Bear. This had been a trip where the Sloth Bear encounters had been terrific.
Sloth bears adults are medium-sized bears. Males weigh 80 -145 kg whilst females range from 55 to 105 kg. Sloth bear muzzles are thick and long, with small jaws and bulbous snouts with wide nostrils. They have long lower lips which can be stretched over the outer edge of their nose allowing them to suck up large numbers of insects. Sloth bears eat termites, ants and bees which they locate by smell. They use their powerful forearms and long claws to dig down into nests.