322 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



THE THIBET BEAR. 



IN THE GARDENS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The natural history of this animal seems to have escaped the notice of our most eminent zoologists, 

 ■which in some degree may be ascribed to the rarity of its appearance in the established or the 

 itinerant menageries. We cannot find any notice of it before the commencement of the present 

 century, when it was confounded with the small American bear, which was presented by the Hudson's 

 Bay Company to Sir Hans Sloane, in the year 1737. The Thibet bear may be enumerated amongst 

 the smallest of the ursus genus, the legs being short and thick, and the claws projecting similar to the 

 larger Russian bear ; its colour also resembles the latter animal, being of a darkish-black, with 

 scarcely any intermixture of a lighter shade, with the exception of the under part of the belly and 

 neck. This bear, like others of its species, has six front teeth in each jaw. The two lateral ones of 

 the lower jaw are longer than the rest, and lobed with smaller or secondary teeth at their internal 

 bases. There are five or six grinders on each side, and the canine teeth are solitary. The tongue is 

 smooth, and the snout prominent. The eyes are furnished with a nictitating or winking membrane. 



In its general habits the Thibet bear differs very little from any other of the species, but in its 

 dispositions it appears more sullen and ferocious ; in its size it may be said to take the intermediate 

 rank between the labiated bear and the Malay bear of Raffles, and was originally discovered in the 

 Silhet district, by M. Alfred Devaucel. Its distinctive characters consist in the straight line of its fore- 

 head, and the bushy hair of its neck. It differs, however, essentially from the other species of bear, 

 in the texture of its hair, which in general exhibits not the usual shagginess of the common bear, but 

 is smooth, and it is this very circumstance which renders its skin of less value in the European 

 markets than that of either the American or the Norwegian bear. The under lip of this animal 

 approaches nearly to a white, and it has a mark on the breast in the form of a Y, the two branches of 

 which appear on the front of the shoulders, and the foot or pedestal between the legs, extending to the 

 middle of the belly. The snout has a slight reddish tint ; the cartilage of the nostrils has a great 

 resemblance to that of the bear of the Alps. 



The general physiognomy of the bear indicates a lazy and idle habit, but the history of its general 

 dispositions is so imperfectly known, that no just estimate can be given of its precise habits. It often 

 lies rolled up for a considerable time like the sloth bear, described in this work, page 73, and it 

 appears unwilling and angry at being roused from its dormant state. 



It may be proper to remark that this bear forms one of the three species of the bears of Southern 

 Asia. The first, being the labiated bear, of Bengal ; the second, the Malayan bear, of Raffles ; and 

 the third, the Thibet bear (ursus Tibetanus). The first may be considered as the most remarkable of 

 its species ; the second, as the most diminutive of the whole genus ; and the latter, as being the link 

 between them both in size and diversity of colour. 



