THE SLOTH-BEAR 615 



as 280 pounds, while there is one instance recorded of a specimen weighing as much 

 as 320 pounds. 



The sloth-bear may be regarded as one of the most characteristic, and at the 

 same time one of the commonest of the Mammals of India. It is found in Ceylon, 

 and in the peninsula of India from Cape Comorin nearly to the foot of the Hima- 

 layas. Mr. Blanford states that it ranges as far west as the province of Katiawar, 

 and is also occasionally found in Cutch, while to the northward its range is prob- 

 ably limited by the great Indian desert. It occurs in Northeastern Bengal, but how 

 far its range extends in this direction is not fully ascertained, there being some 

 doubt whether the large black bear found in the plains of Assam is this species or 

 the Himalayan black bear. Within the last thirty or forty years it has been com- 

 pletely exterminated from some parts of Bengal and the Deccan. 



Perhaps the best account of the habits of this bear is one drawn 

 up by Mr. Blanford, partly from the results of his own observations and 

 partly from those of others. It is there stated that these bears " are generally found 

 solitary or in pairs, or three together ; in the latter case a female with two cubs, of- 

 ten nearly or quite full grown. Occasionally four or five are met with in company. 

 They inhabit bush and forest, jungle and hills, and are particularly fond of caves in 

 the hot season and monsoon, and also when they have young. Throughout several 

 parts of the peninsula of India there are numerous hills of a granitoid gneiss that 

 weathers into huge loose rounded masses. These blocks remain piled on each other, 

 and the great cavities beneath them are favorite resorts of bears, as in such places 

 the heat of the sun, and some of the insects that are most troublesome in the mon- 

 soon can be avoided. In the cold season, and at other times when no caves are avail- 

 able, this animal passes the day in grass or bushes, or in holes in the banks of ra- 

 vines. It roams in search of food at night, and near human habitations is hardly 

 seen in the daytime ; but in wild tracts uninhabited by man, it may be found wan- 

 dering about as late as eight or nine o'clock in the morning, and again an hour or 

 even more before sunset in the afternoon. In wet or cloudy weather, as in the mon- 

 soon, it will sometimes keep on the move all day. But the sloth-bear, although like 

 most other Indian animals, shuns the midday sun, appears by no means so sensi- 

 tive to heat as might be expected from its black fur, and appears far less reluctant 

 to expose itself at noonday than is the tiger. I have seen a family of bears 

 asleep at midday in May on a hillside in the sun. They had lain down in the shade 

 of a small tree, but the shade had shifted without their being disturbed. It is 

 scarcely necessary to observe that this bear does not hibernate. Owing to its long, 

 shaggy, coarse fur, its peculiarly shaped head, its long mobile snout, and its short 

 hind-legs, this is probably the most uncouth in appearance of all the bears, and its 

 antics are as comical as its appearance. Its usual pace is a quick walk, but if 

 alarmed or hurried it breaks into a clumsy gallop, so rough that when the animal is 

 going away it looks almost as if propelled from behind and rolled over and over. It 

 climbs over rocks well, and, like other bears, if alarmed or fired at on a steep hill- 

 side, not unfrequently rolls head over heels down hill. It climbs trees, but slowly 

 and heavily ; the unmistakable scratches left on the bark showing how often its feet 

 have slipped back some inches before a firm hold was obtained." 



