80 



MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WOELD 



grizzly and Eurasian brown bear. The range of these bears 

 includes the islands and mainland of the western coast of Alaska 

 from Unimak Island to British Columbia. The group contains 

 the largest existing carnivorous mammals, rarely attaining a 

 weight of three-fourths of a ton. 



The Asiatic Black Bear {Selenarctos thihetanus) is distrib- 

 uted from northern China and Manchuria south into the Hima- 



Fig. SS— Malay Bear 



layas, Burma, southern Japan, and Formosa. It corresponds 

 in size to the American black bear but has larger ears, broader 

 body, and is marked on its chest with a large white or creamy 

 inverted chevron. The race found in Japan (japonicus) is the 

 smallest of the Asiatic black bears, attaining a length of about 

 four feet. The Formosan subspecies (formosanus) is slightly 

 larger — about four and one-half feet long. 



The Malay Bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest of 

 the bears. It occurs in wooded areas from Assam, Burma, and 

 Indo-China south through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra and 

 Borneo. This bear is commonly black, but the pelage when worn 

 may have a brownish tinge. The breast patch is generall}' buff 



