The Bruan, or Malay Bear 



long tongue, the Malay bear is characterised by its 

 small and rounded ears, on which the hair is uniformly 

 short, instead of shaggy, as in the Himalayan black 

 bear. The general colour of the short and close fur is 

 black, but in places it passes into brownish, and the 

 muzzle, to beyond the eyes, together with the chin, 

 has frequently a whitish tinge. A crescentic light- 

 coloured gorget is conspicuous on the chest, its two 

 " horns " being broad, and sometimes uniting so as to 

 form an oval or heart-shaped patch with a black centre ; 

 in other instances the lower part of the patch is pro- 

 longed into a white streak running between the fore- 

 legs. In colour the light gorget or patch varies from 

 white, through yellow, to deep orange. It was at one 

 time supposed that all Bornean representatives of this 

 bear have the patch orange, while in Malay examples it 

 is lighter-coloured, and two species were accordingly 

 made ; but it does not appear that there is any con- 

 stant difference in this respect. Unlike those of the 

 Himalayan black species, the claws are generally pale 

 horn-colour. 



Usually the Malay bear does not measure more 

 than 4 feet from the muzzle to the root of the tail, 

 the tail itself being about 2 inches ; but it has been 

 suggested that in unusually large examples the length 

 of the head and body may reach 4|- feet. 



Compared with those of the two preceding species, 

 the skull of this bear is distinguishable at a glance by 

 the shortness of the nasal region, and the great breadth 

 across the temples, the cheek-bones forming greatly 

 expanded arches. The molars are also relatively 

 shorter and broader than in other Indian bears. 



The range of this bear extends from the islands of 

 Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, into the Malay Peninsula, 

 and so on through Burma and Pegu to the Tenasserim 

 province, Arakan, Chittagong, and the Garo Hills. In 

 a notice contributed to the Proceedings of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal for 1899, Mr. G. C. Dudgeon gave 



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