MELURSUS. 201 



100. Melursus ursinus. The Shth-Bear or Indian Bear. 



Bradjpus ursinus, Shaw, Naturalists' Miscellany, ii, pi. 58 (c. 1791). 



Uraus labiatus, de Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. 1817, p. 74 ; Si/kes, 

 P. Z. S. 1831, p. 100 ; Elliot, Mad. Journ. L. S. x, p. 100 ; Tickell, 

 Calc. Journ. N. H. i, p. 199, pi. vii ; Blyth, Cat. p. 77 ; Jerdon, 

 Mam. p. 72. 



Uraus inornatus, Pucheran, Rev. May. Zool. vii, p. 392 (1855). 



Rinch or Rick, Bhalu, Adam-zdd, H. ; Bhaluk, Ben#. ; Riksha, Sanscr. ; 

 Asival, Mahr ; Yerid, Yedjal, Asol, Gond. ; Bir Mendi, Oraon ; Bana, 

 Kol ; Elityu, Tel. ; Kaddi or Karadi, Can. and Tarn. ; Pani Karuili, Mai. ; 

 Usa } Cingalese. 



Fur long and coarse, longest between the shoulders. In the 

 skull the palate is broad and concave, and extends back farther 

 than in other bears, covering about two thirds of the space between 

 the posterior molars and the hinder terminations of the pterygoids. 

 Colour. Black, end of muzzle dirty grey ; a narrow white horse- 

 shoe-shaped mark on the chest. Claws white. 



Dimensions. Head and body 4 ft. 6 in. to about 5 ft. 8 in. long ; 

 tail without hair 4 to 5 inches. Males as a rule are larger than 

 females. Height at shoulder 2 ft. 2 in. to about 2 ft. 9 in. 

 Weight of a small female 170 Ibs. ; large males weigh as much as 

 20 stone (280 Ibs.) or more ; I find one in the ' Asian ' recorded as 

 weighing 320 Ibs. A large male skull is 11 inches in basal length, 

 and 7'8 broad across the zygomatic arches. 



Distribution. The peninsula of India from near the base of the 

 Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and Ceylon, chiefly in hilly and jungly 

 parts. To the west this bear is found in Kattywar and has 

 occasionally been met with in Cutch, whilst further north its range 

 appears to be limited by the Indian desert. The eastern limit is more 

 doubtful. The sloth-bear appears to be found, though not commonly, 

 in Eastern and Northern Bengal ; but whether the bear of the Assam 

 plains is this species or Ursus torquatus, I have not been able to 

 ascertain. Theobald even suggests that the sloth-bear may occur 

 in Pegu, as be possessed a young animal at Toungoo with but four 

 upper incisors. 



Habits. An excellent account is given by Tickell, and numerous 

 details have been added by Jerdon, Forsyth, Sanderson, McMaster, 

 and others, from which and my own observations the following 

 notes are drawn up. 



The sloth-bear is still one of the commonest wild animals of 

 India, though its numbers have been greatly diminished by sports- 

 men throughout the country, and in some districts, as in parts of 

 the Deccan and Bengal, where it was common 30 or 40 years ago, 

 it has been exterminated. Wherever it occurs its presence is 

 shown by the holes it digs to get at termites, by marks of its claws 

 on trees that it has ascended for honey, and by its peculiar trackte. 

 These animals are generally found solitary or in pairs, or three 

 together; in the latter case a female with two cubs, often nearly 

 or quite full-grown. Occasionally four or five are met with m 



